


10 Things Malik Hates About Altair

by theonlymoosewhoeatssalad



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: AltMal, Alternate Universe - High School, Desdar, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:13:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3127427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonlymoosewhoeatssalad/pseuds/theonlymoosewhoeatssalad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Desmond Miles is new in school and he has no idea how things work, but he wants Kadar Al-Sayf and he will do anything to get him. Even have some rich idiot pay the scariest guy in the school to take out Kadar's older brother so they can date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna make this a one shot, but decided to make it a multichapter because it would allow me to fit everything in without getting annoyed. Also, most of this is Malik/Altair, but some of it is Kadar/Desmond.

Desmond sat in the principal’s office with an uncertain look on his face. Sure, he was used to moving schools, but this one seemed to be altogether ridiculous. He had been in the waiting area of the office for half an hour and was moved to the actual principal’s office and now all he was doing was sitting here. Sinking lower into the chair, he waited semi-patiently for the principal to stop typing on her computer.  
When she finally decided to give him her attention, he had gotten two texts from his dad which he had ignored. She smiled at him in a sort of condescending way that made him give her a raised eyebrow in return. A coffee was clutched in one hand, simply because he was tired and he hated having to constantly switch schools. 

“Hi. Welcome to Galileo High,” she stood with his file and walked around her chair to the window to read it. He glanced about the room, sighing softly in annoyance. God, this lady was so unorganized. There were stacks upon stacks of papers sitting on her desk. Just sitting there waiting for her to look them over and do with them whatever it was that principals do with them. “Five schools in two years. You an army brat?” she asked, causing Desmond to snap his attention back to her to give her a ‘what the fuck?’ look. 

“Yeeaaah?” He didn’t press the subject further and neither did she since she probably really didn’t care. 

“Well, isn’t that nice? Galileo will be like any other school you’ve been to. Same little shit heads as everywhere else,” she was smiling, but Desmond did not find that funny. If anything he gave her the same look as he had before. This woman was nuts and clearly hated her job. “Okay, now get out.” 

Desmond couldn’t get out of his seat quick enough, shaking his head feeling more exasperation than he had before. Another student entered the office just as Desmond was leaving. Desmond and this student were close in size causing them both to have to turn to the side to get through the doorway, however Desmond avoided eye contact because of the death glare he was receiving was somewhat scary. 

“Mr. Ibn-la’ahad. Heard you exposed yourself to the lunch lady,” came the voice of the crazy head of the school. Desmond dipped out before he could hear anymore while Altair turned his attention to the principal. 

“I wasn’t ‘exposing’” Altair made quotation marks with his first two fingers, “myself. I was messing around. It was a sausage.” He didn’t even fully enter the office, yellow eyes seriously bored and a little annoyed. His accent wasn’t thick, but it was there. 

“Aren’t we the optimist?” She smiled at him and he just raised a brow. “Keep it in your pants, Mr. Ibn-la’ahad.” Altair shook his head, gripping the strap of his bag and walking out quickly so he wouldn’t have to feel awkward about the way the teacher had glanced down at his crotch. 

Desmond came out into the hall with a pass in his hand and was tapped on the shoulder by a guy with a scar similar to his. 

“Hello, I’m Ezio Auditore,” he had a thick Italian accent (Did everyone in this school have an accent?),  
“I’m supposed to show you around the school.” Desmond nodded and held out his hand to be shaken. 

“Desmond.” Ezio took his hand and shook it with a surprising amount of firmness, a smile on that olive toned face. 

“So, welcome to the shittiest school you’ll ever go to.” Desmond actually felt his lips tug up with an amused chuckle rumbling up from his throat. 

“What’s with the principal?” he asked, walking with Ezio down the hall. 

“Ah. She writes erotic transformative fiction for the internet,” Ezio laughed, clapping Desmond on the shoulder. Desmond made a gagging noise and motioned vomiting all over the floor. The Italian laughed and shook his head, leading him out to the court yard. He pointed out to the different groups and even told him about people he should avoid and people he could possibly be chill around. Though, Desmond knew he would probably be stuck in with the coffee freaks since he couldn’t function until he had at least two cups of coffee in the morning. Other than that, he’d probably be alone since he didn’t particularly like people. Two younger guys walked by and Desmond’s eyes followed the tanner version of the two. Ezio must have noticed because he snorted at him and punched his arm lightly. 

“That is Kadar Al-Sayf. And he is one of the most liked boys in this school. By boys and girls.” Desmond took his eyes off Kadar for a moment, who was walking with his books hugged to his chest. 

“Yeah? He has the attention of most everyone. No one really goes to ask him-” Desmond walked away towards Kadar, dumping the empty disposable coffee mug in the trash. “Desmond!” He didn’t bother to even look at Ezio, eyes set on the goal of a cute, firm butt that was obviously of Arabic descent if he was able to guess. He was about to tap on Kadar’s shoulder when Ezio grabbed the hood of his jacket and pulled him back causing the coffee addict to yelp in surprise. 

“Mio amico, I said wait,” Desmond grunted, upset. “The Al-Sayf brothers aren’t allowed to date. That is a widely known fact.” Desmond just shrugged and wandered off to his class, disappointed that he had his chance to ask the guy out taken away from him, Ezio watching him leaving with a look that clearly said ‘Fuck, this kid is gonna be a lot to handle’.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Malik hates English a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't look at me I didnt mean to add the Dramatical Murder reference... /.\

Malik’s english class was probably the worst thing in the world. He had to sit and deal with the worst people he had ever met and he wished he was anywhere, but here. Of course, the teacher was awesome, but that didn't mean the students were. He was so unlucky, he had been able to avoid the jerk of the school since freshman year but not this year, no. He had to sit just behind Malik. And if that didn't tick Malik off, nothing else would. 

The teacher droned on about how the class would go until they finally started with a certain poem. And of course Shithead behind him complained causing the teacher to tell him to shut up. Malik loved this teacher. 

When the poem was done being read, the teacher asked for an analysis. 

"He's so... so.." The dumb girl seemed to be struggling to find a good enough word and Malik doubted she knew enough words to even describe the poem. "Romantic." Is what she settled with. Malik frowned and shook his head, scoffing. 

"What?"

"Hemingway is far from romantic. He had a history of trying to sleep with every woman that Picaso dated and acholism." The girl scoffed offendedly at his opinion. The teacher sighed. 

"Al-Sayf, you don't need to express your opinion all the time," the teacher sounded slightly amused though. 

"If I didn't, everyone would continue to be obtusely ignorant," was Malik's response, his arms crossed over his chest. 

"Mr. McKenny, could we get Malik to take his midol before he comes to class?" Malik turned around to give him a hard glare.

"Do I look like a girl to you, Stanton?" 

"One day, Stanton, you're going to get decked and I'm not gonna do anything to stop Malik from doing it because you clearly deserve it," the teacher added with a brow raised. It was like sitting in a den of testosterone and all the guys besides the weed heads were affected. At that moment, a guy came in and he looked around, holding his bag loosely. 

"What'd I miss?" He asked. Malik sighed and rolled his eyes. 

"The unfair class circulation that runs this stupid school." The guy nodded in agreement before heading back out the door. The teacher tried to stop him, but Stanton continued to talk, so Malik rebutted every comment he had to make.. 

"Ok. Enough. Al-Sayf, go to the office."

"What?" Malik turned to look at the teacher as he walked through the aisle. Mr. McKenny stopped and waved, not bothering to even look at him. The Arabian frowned and packed up his stuff to leave for the office. He walked with an angry look on his face, but it disappeared when he saw his little brother walking back to class from the bathroom. Kadar grinned at him and waved before running up to him. 

"Hey, where you going? You know mom will be pissed if you sign out early." 

"I got sent to the office by a teacher, actually." Kadar made a face at him and patted his arm. 

"That sucks..." He muttered and Malik nodded. Kadar gave him a sympathetic smile and hugged his older brother. 

"I'm so depressed we didn't get any classes together!!" Malik patted Kadar's head and pulled away. 

"You're a sophomore, Kadar." 

"So?"

"We're not gonna have classes by default." 

"Laaaaaaaaame." Kadar looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. "Soooo... There's this girl..." Malik frowned. 

"Mom's not gonna like that."

"I knoooow. But do you think you could cover for me?" He clasped his hands together in a begging way. 

"Ew, no. I'm not gonna condone your bad behavior just because you want to get your dick wet." Kadar groaned and pushed at his brother's shoulder weakly. 

"You are the worst wingman ever, you know that?" Malik continued to head for the office. 

"Yeah, I don't care." Kadar stayed where Malik had been, frowning at his older brother until he eventually wandered back to class. Malik stood in the office for a good ten minutes after he got there before he went into the principal's office with a bored look on his face. 

"Hello, Malik."

"Hello, Ms. Carter."

"What's another word for... engorged?"

"Turgid? Tumescent?" He offered, sitting down even though he knew he was going to be dismissed soon. 

"Hmm. Tumescent works. Thank you." She started typing again. When she stopped, she looked at him with her hands folded in front of her on her desk. "Heard you were terrorizing Mr. McKenny's class." Malik shook his head. 

"I was only expressing my opinion on the poem. That's what he wanted us to do."

"Malik, I think you need to work on your behavior," Malik's mouth twitched up into a smirk. "Most people would refer to you as a..." She struggled for a word. 

"Dictortal? Pompous?"

"Raging dickhead is the term most used often." Malik let out a low chuckle and stood up. "Okay, you can go." Malik waved. 

"I'll let you get back to Aoba's quivering member." She looked at him sharply. 

"Quivering... I like that." She started typing immediately while Malik walked out shaking his head. He met up with his best friend Leonardo after all the class were over, ripping down a prom poster down. He ignored the girl who yelled at him for doing it and continued to his blonde friend. 

"Hey, Leo."

"Malik! Oh I'm so glad you're here! Look! I drew Shakespheare." Leonardo held up a sketch pad with an almost perfect sketch of Shakespheare on it. 

"You're so good at drawing and you're wasting your time drawing a guy who's been dead for hundreds of years," Malik laughed, taking the paper from him. "Wow. I hate you sometimes." 

"Don't be jealous of my genius."

"Genius, yes. Jealous? No. I'm not jealous of you. I have my own genius. Just not as good as you." Leonardo nodded, hugging Malik with one arm and headed to Malik's piece of shit car. They got in and Malik pulled the car out of the parking spot only to be cut off by a guy on a bike who clearly didn't know what he was doing. Malik stomped on his break and stuck his head out of his window. 

"Get your head out of your ass and learn to drive!" He yelled, the guy moving out of the way. Malik pulled his head back into the car and sped off, obviously annoyed. Ezio took off his bike helmet and looked at Desmond with an annoyed look. 

"Are you ok, Ezio?"

"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine. I just had a brief encounter with Stick Up His Ass Al-Sayf. That's your dream boy's brother." Desmond looked at the car that was turning out of the school. 

"That's Kadar's brother?" Ezio nodded gravely and Desmond looked surprised, but not really afraid. But Desmond should be terrified of Malik. Because Malik had a reputation for his verbal violence and kicking several guys asses for calling him rude things. Because Malik was terrifying.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News travels fast in school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Desmond is always tired.

Kadar had gotten a ride home. From a girl. And Malik couldn't think of anything that would keep him from getting in trouble. Lucky for Kadar, their mom was still at work and didn't get home until five. Malik had time to think about what Kadar must have been doing after he got out of school. Maybe he could say Kadar was getting help with his obviously bad grades in his math class. So Malik was staring at his book, not really reading it when his baby brother walked in the room.

"Hey," he said, flopping down next to his big brother. Malik glanced at him and lifted his chin.

"You got a ride home from a girl today." Kadar laughed nervously. 

"Y yeah about that..."

"I'm going to tell mom you were staying after school for math tutoring," Malik said, cutting him off. His brother sat up with a hopeful look in his eyes. 

"Really?"

"Yes really." 

"I have the best big gay brother ever!!" Kadar tackled him, but Malik didn't move besides being awkwardly jostled. He looked down at the shorter one. 

"You know, I'm really getting sick of you calling me gay. Just because I am doesn't make it better." Malik pushed Kadar off the couch with a resounding thud as the littler of the two landed heavily on the wood floor. 

"But you do like dudes."

"So does Leo. And he's been looking at you lately. Maybe I'll let him into your room during a sleepover." Kadar's dramatic gasp almost made him laugh. 

"You wouldn't..."

"Don't call me gay and I won't." Kadar pulled himself back on to the couch and poked him. 

"Fine. So the girl who drove me home is the girl I like."

"Oh my god... Taylor Vaughn is the girl you like?!" Malik slammed his book into his lap to look at his brother with a totally digested look. 

"Yeah why?"

"She's the biggest pigheaded blonde bimbo in the entire school and she's insanely spoiled." Kadar looked at him with a sort of angry look. 

"She's not like that!" Malik narrowed his eyes at him and put a hand on Kadar's shoulder. 

"She's a cold hearted bitch with her sights on the wrong person's little brother." With that, Malik stood only to be stopped by their mother who hugged him. 

"Hello, babies." They both greeted her with a 'hey mom' and Kadar kissed her cheek. "How was everyone's day?"

"Boring," Kadar answered, sinking back into the couch. Malik shrugged and wandered to the kitchen to get a snack. He heard his mother calling him after he left and trudged back into the living room with an apple in his hand. He took a bite when she held up a college envelope. He took it from her gently and opened it. 

"I got in," he smiled and showed them. 

"That's great, honey, but isn't that school on the other side of the country?" His mother asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Thus the basis of its appeal." Kadar watched them exchange the same look toward one another. 

"I thought we settled on a closer school."

"No, you settled. Plus, isn't it better to have more options?" Their mother was about to say something before Malik held up his hand. "I'm not going to go to a school any closer than the next state over. It's not about distance. I want the best education I could get and this school is the best option." 

Their mom frowned at him, obviously not liking Malik's choice and the fact that Malik wasn't going to do what she wanted probably ticked her off even more. Kadar put a hand on her shoulder. 

"You could have at least applied to the college she wanted you to go to, Malik." The older brother glared at the younger. 

"I didn't have to. I applied to ten colleges in this state, but none are as good as I need them to be. And don't butt in like that, or I'll tell mom who drove you home." Kadar tensed when his mother's gaze fell on him. 

"Who drove you home?"

"Well, mom, there's this girl... And I think I'm gonna ask her to prom."

"Oh absolutely not. You know the rule. No dating till you graduate." Kadar groaned and flopped on the couch, glaring at Malik. 

"That's soooo unfair! Why can't we be normal?"

"Because do you know how many teenagers end up as parents at your age? I won't let that happen to my only sons." Kadar sunk into his spot, still glaring at Malik, who didn't look bothered anymore. 

"Mom, Malik is eighteen and I am sixteen. We aren't stupid enough to get a girl pregnant." Malik watched at him with a hawk like gaze, so he wouldn't tell their mother Malik was into guys. He didn't. His little brother was the best. Even though Malik knew he wasn't the best big brother. 

"Stupidity isn't what causes teenage pregnancy. It's this country's inability to properly teach sex education."

"Mom, our school has the least amount of teen pregnancy," Malik cut in. She ignored him going on about how hard it was to be a parent at their age and that she didn't want either of her boys having that problem. Well, Malik wouldn't have that problem because he was swinging for the other team. Kadar gave him a nasty look and Malik shrugged, mouthing to him that being gay was easier. Kadar wanted to flip him off, Malik could see it on his face. 

"But mom, Malik is incapable of even getting a girlfriend! He's always got this scary ass look on his face."

"Language, Kadar." His mother stopped ranting, but stared at Malik. "I've decided. Kadar can date," Malik opened his mouth to protest. "When Malik does." That caused a huge smile to spread across his face. Kadar groaned and pointed at his brother. 

"How is that fair?!" 

"I think it's fair," Malik smiled, picking up his book and taking it upstairs so he wouldn't have to listen to Kadar complain. 

At school the next day, Malik explained his situation to Leonardo, who was staring into his locker at the drawing of Shakespheare. 

"So you can date basically." Malik nodded. 

"But if I date, Kadar dates Taylor Vaughn. She's got her eyes on him for some reason."

"Probably because she hates you and that's your little brother." Malik frowned at him. 

"You aren't helpful for a genius." Leonardo laughed and pushed the Arabian gently. Malik joined him and closed his locker. Leonardo followed his to their next class. 

Desmond was walking with Ezio to their science class, discussing the latest news about how the Al-Sayf brothers can date now. But only if the older one dates first. News like that would spread fast simply because Desmond figured Kadar was cute as hell. 

"He's looking for a math tutor," Ezio offered. Desmond nodded, sipping his cooling coffee. 

"I heard. I talked to him about it. Also said I'd like to take him on a date. And he said that he can't date unless Malik does. Which means I have to find a someone who's scary enough to deal with that scary ass dude." Ezio shook his head and laughed softly at Desmond's quiet, tured mumbling. For as long as Ezio knew him, he knew Desmond didn't like school, didn't like not sleeping, and needed his coffee in the morning. Ezio was even nice enough to bring him a cup from the coffee shop on campus because Desmond didn't have enough time to bring his own. This made Ezio feel like they were going to be good friends. 

"How are you going to do that?" 

"I have no clue... Pay them?" Desmond sighed, obviously dismayed, but Ezio couldn't tell much. The guy just looked tired. 

"Well, yeah. But can you do that?" 

"No, I don't make enough to be able to really bribe someone." Ezio supposed that was why Desmond was tired all the time. Must be staying up late and not getting enough sleep.

"Then what you need is a backer, mio amico." Desmond rubbed his eyes and glared half-heartedly. 

"Let's focus on finding the right person first, Ezio." Ezio shrugged and Desmond waved goodbye as he left for his class.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kadar is having a life crisis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kadar is a sweet innocent baby and I love him

Desmond stared at the surprising amount of girls that were standing in a isolated area of the school hallway. Ezio stood beside him, looking pretty pleased with himself, but also giving them a flirtatious wave. The coffee fiend turned to his Italian friend with a mixed look on his face. Ezio took a while to notice it, but once he did, he asked what the problem was.

"I'm pretty sure Malik Al-Sayf is gay."

"How would you know?" Ezio frowned, crossing his arms.

"I don't know for sure, but I can ask Kadar," Desmond offered, gesturing towards the stairs. He was already walking towards it when Ezio called out to him saying he'll take care of the ladies. And Desmond didn't know if he knew what he meant, but he forced down the sigh he felt the urge to do. He found Kadar hanging out with his friend and overheard the conversation about being overwhelmed and underwhelmed. He raised a brow at the stupid question, but tapped Kadar on the shoulder. The younger boy turned and looked at him before grinning.

"Hey Dustin!"

"Desmond." Kadar blinked at him before looking embarrassed. Cutie.... Desmond wanted to grab him and kiss him, but alas his coffee would be spilt and he couldn't have that. "I was curious about something. While I'm looking for a possible date for your brother, would he be more inclined to go out with a girl or a guy?" 

Kadar seemed caught off guard with this question, but grabbed his hand and pulled him to an area where no one could hear them. He was giving Desmond a serious glare. 

"If you tell anyone, he'll literally kick your ass so far up the street, you'll be lost." Desmond's eyebrows raised in tired amusement which only made Kadar try to look more serious. It wasn't working. 

"You know, he doesn't come off as the straightest guy around. So the whole school probably knows. Whatever. Anyway. So I'm looking for a guy then. Can do." Desmond gave Kadar a thumbs up before patting him on the head and turning to leave. But Kadar grabbed his wrist, stopping him. 

"Look, I don't want to hurt your feelings or anything, Derek,"

"Desmond."

"Right. Desmond. I don't swing that way." Desmond turned fully to Kadar and bent slightly so his face was a few inches away. 

"It's not about gender, Kadar. You can be attracted to girls and be in love with a man. You can be attracted to guys and be in love with a woman. You can love whoever you want. I am not gay either. I'm not bisexual; well maybe, I dunno. I've always had a preference for women. But I don't limit myself to just the female gender. Because I could fall in love with someone of the same gender. My goal is happiness. And I like you. A lot. That doesn't mean you have to like me. I'm asking just for one date." Desmond held up a finger and patted Kadar's head once again before wandering off to tell Ezio that they were going to be looking for a guy. Kadar stood there for a good five minutes as he thought about sexuality. He didn't notice the bell ring for class or even people walking for their classes. Kadar looked around before going to class. He took out his phone and called Malik, but he was ignored so he texted him instead. 

Malik didn't look at his phone at all, somehow knew it was his brother that was blowing up his phone. He was in his math class, which he needed, so he refused to succumb to his curiosity. When class ended, he checked it. A missed call, sixteen texts. Eleven texts were just his name to get his attention. He sighed and pressed the call button. Kadar picked up immediately. 

"I've been trying to talk to you all class."

"Well, now it's lunch. So meet me somewhere and we'll talk," Malik was already walking towards the court yard. Kadar usually groaned when his older brother told him they'll talk face to face, but this time Kadar just said football field and hung up. Malik stopped and stared at his phone, surprised. It must be serious. The older Al-Sayf made his way quickly to the football field. He feared his brother was being picked on again. However, Kadar was on the bleachers just staring out at some kids playing a version of football that Malik didn't care enough to know about. He sat down next to Kadar and looked at him.

"I thought you were being bullied again, so I ran here," Malik mumbled, frowning. Kadar shook his head and pointed across the field to a guy that the older brother couldn't really put a name to. "Am I supposed to know him?"

"He likes me." Malik's eyebrows raised, almost about to laugh. "And he said I don't even have to like him back. As long as I go on one date with him, he'll be happy." Malik looked back at the guy, tilting his head to see his face. But he couldn't, so he turned back to his brother. 

"That's cute and all, but you like Taylor Vaughn." Kadar nodded slowly. "So what's the problem?"

"He's... endearing? No. Confident? He's really straight forward and it's kinda sweet that he likes me so much. I mean he doesn't even know me." Malik stared at his brother like he had grown a second head. "What?"

"What's his name?" Malik was leaning towards him now.

"Esmond, I think." Malik gave him a look. 

"That's a really stupid name." Kadar frowned. 

"No wait, it's Devon." The older one sighed and rubbed his face. 

"You're so bad at names. Do you know how long it took you to remember Leo's name?" Kadar shrugged, face a little flushed, still staring at the guy across the field. Malik did too, spotting someone Leonardo always stared at. "Is that Ezio Auditore?" 

"Yeah, he hangs out with him. They have similar scars on their lips." The older Al-Sayf continued to stare, amazed. Kadar watched Malik with a curious look. "Why?"

"Leo really likes Ezio. A lot. He thinks he's just so gorgeous. Not as gorgeous as Shakespeare though. He always adds that in. So why is this guy affecting you so much?"

"I dunno. He said that he doesn't like guys. That he prefers girls. But he's interested enough to ask me out?" Malik leaned back into the bleacher behind him. 

"Sounds like the kind of guy to mean it. Think you could get him to come over here so I can look at him?" Kadar turned to look at him before standing up and jogging to the guy that liked him so much. Malik sat up and watched as the guy looked over here then waved. He waved back. They started to walk over to him. He sent a quick text to Leonardo that he was getting to talk to his crush and of course the genius was probably swooning at the thought of the dark haired Italian. The older Al-Sayf rolled his eyes at his texts and shoved his phone back into his pocket. When the three finally reached him, he was standing and staring the one he didn’t know down. 

“You want to take out my brother?” The guy raised a brow at him, but nodded none the less. “What’s your name?”

“Desmond Miles.” Malik gave Kadar a glare for remembering the guy’s name right. 

“Don’t take it personally when he forgets your name. He’s bad with names. He called Picaso, Napoleon. It was hilarious.” Desmond shrugged, obviously not bothered too much that his crush couldn’t remember his name to save his life. Malik stepped down from the bleachers to be on ground level with the two guys. Kadar stepped closer to his brother. “Let’s get one thing clear. Just because you want a date doesn’t mean I’m just going to hand my little brother over to you. He’s also extremely heterosexual. So good luck with that,” with that, Malik grabbed his bag and walked away from the three. Desmond looked at Kadar for a moment then at Ezio. 

“I’m sensing some weird sense of approval?”

“He probably thinks you’re hot,” Ezio shrugged, grinning. Kadar puffed his cheeks slightly and waved at them. 

“Later, guys.” Desmond and Ezio waved to him before going back to their football game.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezio is a sly dog and wants in on Student Council.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one can resist the charms of the assassin order.

Sometime after lunch ended, Desmond and Ezio were sitting in a science class, talking about how to find Malik a guy who would be willing to take him out. Desmond was thinking about potential guys when he noticed someone across the class with a very familiar scar down his lips. Ezio turned to look at who he was looking at before forcing Desmond’s face to turn away. 

“Don’t stare at him,” He hissed. Desmond gave him patronizing look.

“Who is that?”

“That’s Altair Ibn-La’Ahad… He’s a criminal. I heard he went to prison for assaulting a cop.” Ezio’s face was so serious at the moment, but Desmond kept his gaze on Altair. “Would you stop? You’re gonna get us caught and I, personally, don’t want to be his bitch boy.” Desmond gave Ezio a blank stare, clearly annoyed that the Italian was so nervous about the guy. “Don’t look at me like that. You don’t know him.”

“Neither do you,” the American countered, frowning at his friend. “If he needs money, he’ll definitely go for Malik.”  
“Well, I know just the person to pay him,” Ezio muttered, turning to look with Desmond, only meet Altair’s threatening gaze. The Italian turned around quickly, but Desmond was apparently not that smart because he had a staring contest with the guy. The Italian heard a chair scoot back before someone leaned heavily on their lab table. When Ezio turned to look, he was met with the meanest glare he had ever seen given. 

“Do you boys have a problem?” Altair asked, hard gaze going between Desmond and Ezio. 

“No no no no no,” Ezio started, waving his hands in front of him, “We were just-” Desmond threw his pencil at him, eyes never leaving the scary guy in front of them. “Ow.”

“We don’t have a problem. And we won’t have a problem. Was just trying to remember your name. You were in the office when I transferred here on Monday.” Altair didn’t look convinced at first before he let his hands fall to the side. 

“Atair.”

“Right, right. You’ve got an awesome name. I’m Desmond, by the way.” Altair was giving him a bored, fuck off look, trying to leave the table. Desmond waved, a smirk playing at his lips. “Later, Altair.” Ezio reached across the table to smack roughly at Desmond’s arm. “Hey.”

“Next time you try to kill yourself, please make sure I’m 100 feet away from you, so I am not associated.” Desmond chuckled, rubbing his arm. 

“That’s our guy.” Ezio groaned and put his head in his hands. As class droned on, Ezio knew he and his new friend were getting glares from the Syrian guy in front of them. When it finally ended, Ezio made sure to pull Desmond away from the class as quickly as possible, so he wouldn’t get murdered. The end of the day rolled around slowly. So slowly, Ezio almost forgot to approach Taylor Vaughn with the idea. He walked up to her casually, a charming smile on his handsome face. His long hair was tied back in a small ponytail, framing a slightly round face with dark playful eyes. The girls around Taylor all smiled at him and gave him lustful looks that he ignored. 

“Hello, I was wondering if you would spare a moment to speak with me.” Taylor looked at him up and down before she decided he was good looking and took his offered hand. He led her away from the parking lot to speak with her on a more private level, holding her hand delicately. He turned to her and smiled again. “I was wondering if I could run an idea by you and maybe getting something nice in return.” 

“Oh? And what is your idea?” She tilted her chin up, obviously trying too hard to look like a classy lady.

“I’ve noticed you flirting with Kadar Al-Sayf.” She immediately stepped back, flirtatious gaze gone and a glare starting to form. “Hear me out. I know you know that Kadar can’t date until Malik does. So, why don’t you hire someone to take Malik out?” The glare stopped as she thought this over. 

“And who would want to go out with that asshole?” she asked, crossing her arms over her (decently sized) breasts, creating more cleavage for Ezio to ‘not’ focus on. Though, he liked to think he was good at hiding the fact that he was looking at them. He stepped toward her, an arm draping across her shoulders and pointing to the Syrian who was smoking a cigarette by his white Ford Focus, beanie almost falling off his head. “That guy? I heard he had a porn career last year and that’s why he didn’t come to school.” 

Ezio shrugged, still staring before he looked away. “So. What do you say?”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I want you to get me into the Student Council. I want to take over the Presidents spot.”

“What? Stanton would kill me!”

“Well, I guess I can just tell Malik what you might do... “

“No, wait! I can get you in.” Ezio smiled charmingly before walking off, leaving Taylor to approach Altair alone. And she did. Altair was just about to get into his car when he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned slightly to see the bitch queen smiling at him. The Syrian raised a brow at her. 

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, you can. And I can help you,” obviously, he wasn’t following what she was saying at all. “You see that guy?” She pointed to Malik who was standing at his car waiting for Kadar. “That’s Malik Al-Sayf. You see, there mom’s got this totally unfair rule where I can’t take out his bro-” Altair snapped his fingers in front of her face causing her to flinch. 

“That’s sad. Really. But it’s not my problem.” Taylor frowned at him, finding him to be extremely rude for cutting her off. 

“If I paid you, would you make it your problem?” Altair rolled his eyes. 

“You’re going to pay me to take out a guy?” Taylor nodded, trying to give him her best smile. The guy gave her a skeptical look. “How much?”

“Twenty bucks?”

“No. I’m not a cheap hooker. And it’s a guy you’re asking me to take on a date.” 

“Fine, fifty.” Altair turned to look at Malik again, who was driving away going way too fast and having at least ten people jump out of the way. He looked back at Taylor with furrowed brows, fixing his beanie to sit more comfortably on his head. She was still turned to the area Malik’s car had driven away from. “I’ll give you a hundred bucks to do this for me.” 

“Deal.” Altair smiled at her crookedly and held out his hand. The scar on his lips stretched in a way that was sort of appealing. She felt a little uneasy; he was devilishly good looking, yet absolutely terrifying.  
Taylor pulled out five twenties and handed it to the Syrian, who took it and got in his car. He pulled out of his spot and drove away, leaving the very popular, very desperate girl to worry her lip until she went home. Oh, he would take the guy on a date. A bad date. The worst date he would ever have.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Altair needs help getting Malik to go out with him if he wants to continue to get money from Taylor Vaughn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my school, the grade levels are seperated in different buildings except for elective classes. So freshman english, math and science would be in a different building than sophomore, junior and senior classes. 
> 
> Elective classes are the only time the grade levels mix.

The next day, Malik was forced to run on the track while others got to choose which activity they were going to do. He wanted to play soccer, but alas everyone else wanted to play football. He was panting softly by the time he finished his fifth lap. The coach called out to him and he jogged over. 

"Have you learned not to talk back to adults?"

"Have you grasped the concept that respect isn't given automatically, no matter the age?" The couch looked momentarily confused before sending him to keep running.

He was halfway through his sixth lap when someone came running up next to him, matching his pace. He glanced at the guy, an annoyed look on his face. The guy had piercing yellow eyes, a hoodie jacket on with the hood up, and a familiar scar on the left side of his mouth. His light brown hair stuck out from under the hood and his nose was slightly bent at the bridge, but not enough for anyone to decribe it as crooked. It seemed like it had been broken at one point. Malik turned his gaze back to the black rubber asphalt of the track. 

"Hey there." The Arabian raised a brow at him. 

"Hey?" 

"Why are you running?" The guy asked, smelling of cigarette smoke and getting too close for Malik's comfort. 

"Because the coach demanded my respect and I refuse to give it to someone so undeserving of it." 

"So he made you run? That's fucked up." Malik nodded, trying to focus on his breathing. It was quiet as they ran some more. 

"How're you?" The guy tried again. If Malik could place the accent, he would have missed the question, but he couldn't. So he frowned instead.

"How the fuck do you think I am? I'm being forced to run when I don't want to and being bombarded while running by some random guy who happens to not be in this class. What do you want?" The guy obviously seemed offended by Malik's immediate dislike for him, but didn't comment.

"Well, I was hoping you'd go out with me sometime," he started and Malik's reaction was to stop mid-run and stare at him like he was the worst person in the world. 

"Funny," the Arabian sneered. 

"I'm not kidding."

"Then go fuck yourself?" Malik offered, running past him at a much faster pace.

The Syrian wasn't sure how Malik even had the stamina to go faster because he himself was gasping for air. Maybe smoking isn't a good habit. Altair frowned at the other's retreating form. He rubbed a hand across his forehead to wipe at the sweat, walking back to behind the bleachers where he was sitting. Desmond and Ezio were watching from the bleachers. 

"I feel like Malik got angry and told him to fuck off?" Ezio wondered, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Desmond groaned and lied down to mope on the bench. His Italian friend looked over him before pushing him off the bench. "Come on. We have to let Altair in on the plot."

"Ew, no. The guy already wants to kill me," Desmond grumbled, sitting up and rubbing imaginary dirt from his hair. 

"Oh, so you are afraid of him?" He was given a heavy glare. 

"I'm not afraid. I'd just prefer not to get into a fight." 

"That you would lose," Ezio threw in only to receive a punch in the thigh.

"Whatever, asshole." The Italian laughed and got up, pulling Desmond up and dragging him towards the back of the bleachers. Altair was leaning against the back wall, a cigarette hanging from his lips. He looked at them with the same glare he always had. Ezio smiled nervously and waved. 

"We know what you're doing. With Malik Al-Sayf."

"So?"

"So we want to help you," Desmond offered.

"And why would you want to help me?" Altair took a puff and breathed out slowly. Ezio clapped a hand on Desmond's shoulder. 

"Desmond's got a boner for Malik's little brother," Atalir made a face at that, taking another drag. "And we thought we could help you out since it looked like you just failed on your first attempt." 

"Ah, you saw that. Well, I don't know, I kind of want to know why everyone has such a hard on for them. They look good sure, but that one has the shitiest personality ever." Desmond almost laughed, but kept his mouth in a firm tight line. Altair stared at both him and Ezio before he blinked. "All three of us have the same scar." Desmond and Ezio looked at each other and nodded.

"Weird, isn't it? Now let's focus. Malik is the kind of guy that looks for someone who will put up with his angry attitude."

"Yeah, but literally no one would ever want to put up with that."

"You are."

"Are you two going to pay me to take him out also?" Atlair stubbed the last of the cigarette out against the wall. Desmond shook his head.

"No, we have someone else in mind for that."

"She already paid him," Ezio said to Desmond, who looked at him with confusion.

"How did you convince her to do it?"

"I told her I want to be student council president and that I would tell Malik what she might do if she didn't." Altair furrowed his brows at them and a scratched at his head from above the hood.

He had to admit that they had set it up rather nicely except Malik was uninterested and he wasn't about to force himself on someone who didn't want him. He may not even want to be forced upon a guy that had been known for sending two guys to the hospital for picking on his brother. Well, at least Malik seemed like a protective type.

Desmond was frowning at Ezio. Altair rubbed the back of his neck and looked between them. 

"So you're gonna help me?" They nodded, giving him nervous smiles which almost made him laugh cause that meant they believed all of the rumors about him. He gave them amused looks before pushing off the wall. "Alright. What do I do?"

"Just try to get on his good side. I know that seems hard, but he wasn't in a good mood when you approached him."

"Is he ever in a good mood?" Desmond added, pulling his bag in front of him. He grinned when Ezio gave him a questioning look, "Kadar gave me some iced coffee this morning." He pulled the thermos out and took a sip. 

"Amico mio, you probably have a caffeine addiction."

"That explains the headaches by the time school ends," Desmond gave him an unbothered look as he took another sip. Altair furrowed his brows in perplexed confusion at the two of them. They seemed like the most unlikely of friends, considering that one was a relatively popular guy and the other seemed like a regular, get-through-high-school kind of guy.

Ezio shook his head at his friend and gestured for Altair to follow as he lead the way back to the main part of the school. 

"I know nothing about this guys," Altair said, looking at the other two. 

"We need to get an inside informant," Ezio said. 

"We already got one." Desmond was gone before Altair really understood what he meant. The Syrian looked around to find him and spotted him walking to the sophomore building. The Italian shared a look with him before following him only to see him go right into a classroom, walk out of it, then into another. He continued until he came out with a younger, slightly different looking version of Malik. He was speaking gently to the kid while Altair and Ezio hung back.

Kadar glanced at the other two before giving Desmond his wide eyed gaze. 

"That's the guy you chose? For Malik?" 

"Yeah, why?"

"He's.... Isn't that the guy who went to jail all last year?" Desmond shrugged. 

"I thought you said Malik likes tough guys."

"Tough, not crazy!" Kadar exclaimed, glancing at Altair nervously. 

"Calm down, he's not crazy. He's actually pretty cool. Thanks for the coffee, by the way. Didn't get a chance to say that earlier." Kadar's worried face changed into a grin as he looked at the thermos in the older boy's hand. 

"I hope I made it right. You said you didn't like too much sugar or creamer," he said, looking back up at the American. Desmond nodded, sipping it for good measure. 

"Yeah. You made it better than most of the coffee shops I go to. So, you think you can get me some info about your brother? Likes, dislikes, favorites, ecetera." Kadar tapped his chin thoughtfully. 

"Yeah, I can. He's got to go to the bookstore today, so if you want, you can come over and we can snoop around his room. I have to call my mom and let her know that my tutor is coming to the house." Desmond nodded and nudged him back into class, muttering about how he was being a bad student by ditching. Kadar went back inside after giving him a playful glare. The older one turned and shuffled back to the other two. 

"Dude, you've got it bad," Altair said suddenly, a grin on his normally angry face. 

"Holy shit, the statue is smiling. Ezio, get a picture of the statue smile. It's crazy." Altair scowled at him while Ezio laughed and walked away from them only to be forced to slow down because the two of them were surprisingly fast enough to grab his shirt. 

"Get off of me. You guys are pricks."

"Ah, but Altair, we want to be friends!" Ezio laughed while Desmond held the hand he was holding the thermos with and; 

"Ey, wassamatta you, Atair?" The other two turned sharply to look at him cause clearly, he had lost his mind. "Sorry, kid put too much sugar in this coffee. Sugar makes me weird." They both stared at him. 

"Don't ever do that again," Altair said, only he wasn't threatening, just genuninely freaked out. Ezio, on the other hand, was holding back his laughter and failing.

"That was the worst Italian-American accent I've ever had the pleasure of hearing." Desmond simply flipped the Italian off as they walked to class. 

Well, Altair wouldn't say he made new friends, but he sort of liked these guys. They were weird around each other in a way that made Altair comfortable to be around them. Desmond was fearless and smart while Ezio was charming and able to get things done. Altair felt like he fit in more than he ever did before near them. So, if this whole situation went bad, at least he made some friends right? Right. 

With that in mind, Altair went about the rest of his day in a way better mood than he had been in all week.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Desmond's caffeine addiction is based on my addiction to coffee.
> 
> Thanks goes to my LOVELY AND AMAZING editor. Trent, you are amazing.

At the end of school, Altair approached Desmond by his car, asking “what was he going to do today if he had to.” 

"Malik's going to this book store. I'd suggest leaving now so you can meet him in there," Desmond handed him a piece of paper that had the name of the bookstore to the Syrian. Altair stuffed the paper into his pocket and went to his car. 

Desmond waited at his car for the younger Al-Sayf. He watched Altair's car make it out of the parking lot before Malik's even pulled out of his spot. He kind of wished he had gotten Altair's phone number, so he could inform him of Malik's movements. He turned to look around only to see his crush talking to his brother, who looked annoyed. Kadar looked at him and waved, a grin on his face. Desmond lifted his hand to wave back, but Malik was turning Kadar's face away to keep him focused. The younger struggled against his brother's hold for a bit, seemingly agreeing to whatever Malik had said to get away. He jogged over to Desmond when he got free. He greeting him with a smile. 

"What was all that about?" He asked, unlocking his car for the sophomore. He got in the car at the same time Kadar did. 

"He was just saying that you have feelings for me and that I shouldn't play with them. But I don't know what that means," Kadar exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and sinking down into the seat. Desmond stared at him for a bit. He knew what Malik meant, but he wouldn't say it. He didn't want to think about that. 

"You don't have to," he said, turning back to the front and driving away from the school. Kadar was chatty throughout most of the ride, sometimes giving him directions, but most of the time talking about how Taylor Vaughn would smoosh her chest to his arm. Desmond felt himself smiling less and less as Kadar talked and thanked whatever God was out there when they pulled into Kadar's driveway. 

The sophomore led the way into the house and up to the second floor to his older brother's room. Desmond searched Malik's desk for anything that gave away what he was interested in, took pictures of all the CDs, wrote down the books that looked like they were going to fall apart, and eventually opened the guy's laptop. Kadar, on the other hand, was going through his brother's clothing. He almost shrieked when he found something he thought he'd never see. 

"What the hell is he doing with this?!" He cried, making Desmond jerk to see what Kadar was holding. An old condom package was being held cautiously between the dark boy's thumb and index finger. Desmond sighed and shook his head. 

"You know, safe sex is kind of like a must."

"But, he's gay!"

"Everyone uses condoms," was Desmond's dismissive response. Kadar threw the package back under Malik's socks and shut the door violently. He looked at Desmond with a concerned, but annoyed look. 

"Okay, what's wrong?" Desmond grunted in response, looking through the Internet history. This guy wasn't even into any kind of porn. Just a certain blog and a few different articles on a history project. Most of it was homework. "Don't ignore my question, Desmond."

"You remembered my name finally. Nothing's wrong. I'm tired."

"You're always tired..." Kadar frowned. "What do you even do that makes you so tired?"

"I work a night shift," Desmond was leaning on his hand as he scrolled through more history, switching to his bookmarks now and then. Kadar was quiet for a while, prompting Desmond to turn to glance at him. "What?"

"I didn't know you worked..."

"You don't know a lot about me." Kadar worried his lip for a bit before grabbing Desmond's hand. 

"Come on, I think you've found enough. Let's go find out more about each other." Desmond blinked at him, shutting the laptop before he allowed himself to be dragged away. Kadar led him downstairs and they sat at the table with their math books open on the table, writing things down about themselves in a notebook. Desmond was smiling again and Kadar didn't know why, but he liked when Desmond smiled. 

Malik was sure he would kill Kadar when he got home, but right now he was focusing on getting a new book. He walked into the bookstore and visible relaxed. He loved this bookstore. It held every book he had ever needed and wanted. Wandering to the section he wanted, he noticed a gray hoodie he had seen earlier that day in the aisle just before his. Malik stopped to stare at the guy for a bit before shaking his head and heading to the aisle he was going to. He stopped again, frowning at himself before going back to the guy and standing next to him with a scowl on his face. 

The guy didn't notice him at first, looking at a particular book that he probably couldn't understand. When the Arabian was noticed, it caused hoodie guy to jump a bit. 

"Holy shit," he breathed, closing the book. "You scared me. What do you want?" He asked, stepping to the side as if to put distance between them. Malik raised his eyebrows a bit, but when back to his scowl.

"What're you doing here?" He asked, sounding a bit ruder than he had intended.

"Um... Getting a book? This is a bookstore." Malik didn't seem to like that answer, so Altair carefully turned away from him and was almost to the end of the aisle only to be pulled around by the Arabian. 

"I've never seen you in here before." Atlair frowned at him.

"It's not your bookstore. I can go where I please. Are you going to let me go?" Malik let go of Altair's wrist and the scowl disappeared from his kind of handsome face. Kind of because Altair was not into guys and he would never think a guy was more good looking than he needed to admit. 

"So, you're not following me?" The Arabian asked, catching Altair's attention again. 

"Huh? Why would I be following you?" 

"You asked me out this morning," Malik pointed out. 

"Yeah, but you told me to go fuck myself," Altair said, a confused look on his face. Malik had to admit the guy was handsome, even though he looked dumb as bricks. The Arabian looked at the book and then back up at the hoodie guy.

"Yeah... I did. I was in a bad mood."

"I noticed. I'm uh, Altair." Malik stared at him because he was sure that was a star consellation. He furrowed his brows and wondered if he had to ask about his last name. While he was sure there was only one Altair in their school, he wanted to know if the hoodie guy was like the rumors. If it was him. "Ibn-La'Ahad," Altair added after some awkwardness. Malik had watched him like a hawk to the point Altair figured out what he wanted.

"So... You're the guy everyone talks about."

"Um. Yeah." Altair wasn't sure how to go about this. It was getting so awkward for him. So he decided to cut it short, since he obviously was not on Malik's kill list. "I'm gonna uh... buy this now." 

Malik looked at him for a second then at the book. "Right. Just one more thing. Why did you ask me out this morning?" 

Altair blinked, caught off guard. The stoic look he always wore took over his face. "I think you're attractive and I wanted to get to know you." 

Malik stared at him, struck speechless as Altair moved around him to walk away. The Arabian turned to look at him with his eyes wide. 

"Wait!" Altair looked back at him over his shoulder with an antagonizing smirk play at his scarred lips. 

"Not unless you're changing your mind about that date," Altair said loud enough for most people nearby could hear, winking in Malik's direction. The darker haired of the two clenched his fists and found that he kind of really didn't like Altair Ibn-La'Ahad as much as he knew he would. He almost had half a mind to go up to him and punch the smirk right off his stupidly handsome face. But the Syrian was out of sight before he could really take action and follow him. 

Instead, he went through the aisles to look for the book he wanted. He found it relatively easy since this store was neat and organized. He went up to the register finding Altair still in line. He hurried to stand behind him. 

"You're still here," he said, looking uninterested. Altair nodded, not even bothering to say anything. That pissed Malik off. "So, you're just going to quit?" Altair turned to look at him. 

"Quit?"

"You're not gonna pursue me anymore because I rejected you," Malik said, frowning. 

"Whoa whoa whoa, I didn't say I was gonna stop," Altair grinned at him. And it was weird to see a guy that was considered to be the scariest guy in the school smiling. 

Malik stared at him before he scowled and shook his head. 

"You're ridiculous." Altair just wiggled his eyebrows suggestively before moving up to the counter. Malik looked him up and down before focusing his gaze on Altair's hood. Why was it up? The Syrian was tall. Taller than Malik. 

"Oh well," Altair shrugged. He paid for his book and walked out of the bookstore without so much as a glance at the guy he had asked out that morning. Malik stared at him for a bit, scowling. He paid for his book and walked out to get into his car. Altair was parked right beside him, which Malik found a little weird, but he mainly ignored it. The Syrian had his windows rolled down and some music on. 

Just as Malik was about to pull out, a pink Mini Cooper parked behind him. He rolled down his window and looked as Taylor Vaughn stepped out of the car and walked up to the salon by the book store. 

"Do you mind?!" Malik yelled after her. She smiled to herself, ignoring him. He scowled more and reversed his car anyways it left a long thick scratch along the side. He prized himself on being able to get out without severely damaging his own car. He could hear Altair laughing from his own car and even saw Taylor run out and scream like a pig being murdered. He drove away before she could get his license plate or even feel a little bit of guilty for it. Not that he felt guilt easily. 

Altair couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. He didn't know Taylor could scream like that. When she did, he swear he could breathe. He was laughing hard enough for his stomach to hurt. Taylor turned to him with all of the furosity of a house cat, glaring hard. He pulled out quickly, nearly ramming his back bumper into the side of her cooper before speeding away. He laughed even as he entered his small apartment and flopped on to his ugly brown couch. 

Malik pulled into the driveway only to find Desmond's car still there, which ticked him off. The poor guy had no chance with his little brother. Kadar was too straight even for straight people. He got out of the car and went inside. They were sitting at the table, Desmond leaning on his hand with a soft smile on his face and Kadar was talking animatedly about how he was finally able to understand something. Malik glanced at the books that were open in front of them and realized Desmond was helping Kadar with math. They looked at him. 

"Oh, hey." Desmond offered him a small wave. Kadar just turned to talk to him. 

"Desmond explained quadratics to me! And I get it!" Malik nodded, looking over Kadar's work. 

"I see that. Good job. You're on the road to better grades, which is the path to pleasing mom," he said before he went to grab a snack. Kadar agreed, holding his achievement on his head like a crown. Malik almost dropped his muffin when he heard Desmond laughing. He blinked as he realized that Desmond actually had a really nice laugh. 

When he walked back in, he found his little brother blushing when Desmond wasn't looking. He grabbed his little brother's arm and dragged him out of his chair to the kitchen. Kadar looked at him curiously, the blush gone. 

"I thought you were straight."

"I am. But he's... I dunno. He's different." Malik stared at Kadar with a hard look. He wanted to yell at him, but he also wanted to see how this would play out for Desmond. 

"Don't do anything stupid, please." 

"What do you define as stupid?" Kadar asked, going to the fridge to get some lemonade for him and Desmond. 

"Don't experiment with him. You could really hurt his feelings."

"Experiment? I'm not gonna make out with him to see if I like dudes. I know I'm not gay. But Desmond as a person is attractive." Malik stared at him before throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Just because you can't get a boyfriend doesn't mean I can't either. I feel more of a connection to him than I thought I would. Plus he's really good at math."

"Which basically means you're using him. You don't know if you like him, so you're stringing him along until you confirm that you don't and drop him and hurt him in the same fell swoop." Kadar turned and rolled his eyes. 

"That's not what I'm doing."

"No, you don't think you're doing it, but you are. And if I were in Desmond's shoes, I'd kick your ass." Malik turned and stormed out of the kitchen to his room. Desmond watched him with a curious look before getting up and going to check on Kadar. 

"Hey, you ok?" He asked, stepping into the kitchen. He barely made it into the kitchen before Kadar was hugging him. 

"I'm not stringing you along am I? I don't want to do that. Not to you. I don't want you to think I'm using you or anything." Desmond blinked at him before putting a hand on his back. 

"Well... not going to lie, but you seem more interested in Taylor Vaughn's tits." Kadar pulled away to look up at him. 

"So.... I am?" He asked. And his voice was so small and sad that Desmond wanted to deny he had said anything so he wouldn't have to see that look anymore. The older boy held his breath as he thought about how to say his response, a torn look in his chocolate eyes. 

"Uh... Well no... Cause I'm here by choice... And I've known you're not interested in guys, so it's not like you're obligated to really be anything other than a friend to me. I mean, I'm up for anything you want to try out, but I won't force myself on you anymore than I already have. And yeah, it kind of hurts to be around you when you talk about girls, but that's just something I have to live with." Kadar didn't seem to like that answer. Tears welled in the boy's eyes almost making Desmond take back everything he'd just said. 

"I don't... want that." The older one stared at him in confused concern as Kadar stared up at him in a tearful defiance. Desmond wasn't really sure what to do with that statement; there were a lot of things he could do with it, but he wasn't sure what to pick. Instead of any of the other more intense options, he chose to reply. 

"I don't think you really know what you want..." Desmond tried, his voice low. The younger Al-Sayf frowned at him. He opened his mouth to say something only to be cut off by a woman calling for him and Malik. 

"Kitchen!" Was the response Kadar gave, still frowning at Desmond. He leaned closer for a second to whisper, "I know what I want." His mother came into the kitchen with her purse and a briefcase. 

"Hi baby. Who's this?" She asked as she set the bags on the table by their textbooks. Kadar planted a kiss on her cheek. 

"This is Desmond. He's my math tutor. And friend. Both." Desmond offered his hand to her with a smile. 

"It's nice to meet you." She returned it with a smile before looking over Kadar's notes. 

"I hope your results are good then. He seems like a smart boy," she said as she flipped the pages Kadar had scribbled on. The younger boy nodded. 

"Desmond's really good at math!" He looked up at the mention of his name, having been staring at his watch. Mrs. Al-Sayf looked at him with a smile. 

"Are you hungry, dear?" She asked. Desmond shook his head. 

"I am, but I can't. I have to get to work soon." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. 

"Oh, you work? Where do you work?" 

"Uh..... I work as a security guard for the water plant..." Kadar and his mother looked surprised. "I'm saving up for school. So I can be in the career I want." The mother seemed to like that, crossing her arms and looking at Kadar with a told you so look. He looked less than happily back at her. She turned back to Desmond.

"Then I hope to see you around more. Kadar needs to have more friends like you to influence him." Desmond nodded, packing up his books and being walked out by his crush. Kadar scuffed his shoe against the ground, looking at his feet. 

"I guess I'll see you later..." He said sadly. The older boy put a hand on his shoulder. 

"Yeah. Thank you. For considering my feelings today." Desmond leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Kadar's cheek. With that, he got in his car and left for work, leaving Kadar go stand there with a hand on his cheek, red in the face.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Altair has a lot of frustrations with Malik. Is it still about the money?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a really long chapter. It took me two weeks to write and edit. I'm sorry for making everyone wait for it.

A week has gone by since Malik had seen Altair at the bookstore. A whole week since the weird hoodie guy asked him out. If Malik thought about it, it was a pretty weird situation. He almost felt it was too coincidental that they had been in the same place at the same time. Altair would not stop bugging him either! It was infuriating to the point where Malik would glare at him across the classroom. The guy would turn in his direction, beanie hanging slightly off his head, and smirk in the most irritating way. Though, Malik was thankful that beanie boy had stopped following him around during lunch since he snapped at the guy. He even noticed that Altair was actually hanging around Desmond and Ezio. 

Currently, he was sitting in his english class; a class he shared with said beanie boy. The guy was missing at the moment, not that Malik really cared if Altair didn't show up. It would make the Arabian's day easier.   
Altair walked in just as the bell rang, looking a bit flushed. He sat down in his seat in front of Malik and grinned at the teacher. 

"You were almost late again, Mr. Ibn-La'Ahad," their English teacher seethed. He hated Altair with a passion for some reason. Probably because the guy was almost never here and when he was, he was constantly picking on poor Mr. McKenny. 

“Oh, I didn’t notice. I’m sorry, Mr. McKenny. There was something very important going on in the parking lot.” The teacher’s eyes narrowed at his worst student. Malik was sure that Altair would burst into flames soon, however he couldn’t see the face his classmate was making back at the teacher. Altair was giving the English teacher a hard stare back, lips quirked up into a slight smirk that he usually directed at the teen sitting just behind him. 

“Is that supposed to insinuate something?” Mr. McKenny asked, crossing his arms. 

“Oh, no, sir. I was getting my favorite hat from my car is all.” Malik stared hard at the back of Altair’s head, face cringed at the fake Southern American accent that the Syrian had badly imitated. Said Syrian turned his head to give him a flirtatious wink. Malik gave him an annoyed sneer, the class unusually quiet. He looked away, trying to block out what was going on in front of him. 

“I should send you to the office, Ibn-La’Ahad.”

“But you won’t. Cause you and I both know that I have the best grades in this class and will not even bother going to see Ms. Fanficion.” The Arabian behind Altair turned his attention back to what was going on, curious now. 

“What do you mean, best grades in the class?” he cut in, leaning forward. That wasn’t possible. Altair was never in class and Malik was pretty sure the student with the best grades was himself. Mr. McKenny’s annoyed face told him that his assumption was wrong and Altair was absolutely right. 

“Technically, he’s not even in this class. I’m just supposed to babysit him. He already has this class’ credit,” the teacher supplied, pulling the attendance page up on the iPad the school had assigned to him. He handed the tablet to Malik, showing him the class names in order. Altair’s name was nowhere in sight. Mr. McKenny, now standing by Malik’s desk, reached forward and clicked on the same class period, but a different class entirely. The page took forever to load, but once it did, Altair’s name was the only one of the list along with a short message saying that he had the credit, just needed to be in a class. 

“But he’s never in class!” Malik protested, eyes narrowed in a growing anger. Stanton kicked the back of Malik’s seat. 

“Mr. McKenny, Malik’s disrupting my learning environment. Can you send him out please?” The teacher turned to give Stanton an even more annoyed look. Altair pushed himself out of his seat and moved around the desks so fast, Malik was sure the guy had teleported to where he had slapped his hands on Stanton’s desk. 

“You got an issue?” the Syrian asked, leaning forward. Stanton leaned back, obviously uncomfortable. 

“If you fight in my classroom, Altair, I will not hesitate to let Shay kick your ass.” Altair turned his ear slightly in the teacher’s direction, but his eyes never left Stanton’s slight reddening face. Malik looked at the teacher, who was frowning at Beanie Boy. 

“Who’s Shay…?” A girl in the back asked quietly. Altair pushed himself away from the desk, leaning against Malik’s now. 

“Shay is Mr. McKenny’s older step brother. Me and McKenny go way back. He knew my mom.” Altair grinned at the English teacher, who was giving him a nasty look. 

“He’s the only one I know who would scare you enough to behave. Do I need to bring him in?” McKenny lifted the phone up, getting ready to dial. Altair sat in his chair.

“Nah, I think I’m good. I kind of don’t need a black eye. I have to impress someone afterall,” the Syrian grinned, leaning on the desk with his elbows. 

“Like you can impress anyone.” McKenny rolled his eyes, walking up to the white board and starting the actual lecture. Malik was still in shock that Altair was even able to hold a grade at all. Class went on and Malik was hardly able to focus on any of it. 

After class was over, Altair caught Malik’s hand and dragged him to behind the bleachers on the football field. Malik hadn’t exactly put up much of a fight the whole way, letting Beanie Boy drag him where he wanted. He looked at the most infuriating human ever with a raised brow. Altair smiled at him.   
Malik felt his face relaxed. He had a nice smile. Almost instantly, Malik felt the need to smack himself. He shoved his hands into his pockets and gave Altair a confused look. Beanie Boy rubbed his forehead nervously, looking away then back up at him. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me,” he asked, giving him a nervous grin. Malik narrowed his eyes. 

“Why should I?” Altair let out a slightly distressed grunt before shrugging. 

“Because…. uh… Well… I don’t really have a reason for you to go on a date with me, but if you do, I can guarantee that you’ll enjoy every minute of it. And if you don’t like it, then I won’t ever bug you again.” Malik gave Beanie Boy a quick once over before frowning at him. He was insanely interested, but he refused to let someone like Taylor Vaughn get her grubby hands on his little brother.   
Just as he was about to say no, Altair held up a hand to stop him. Malik was surprised by the serious look on the guy’s face. Did he ever look that serious before? 

“Before you say no,” Altair started, dropping his hand back down. “Do this for yourself. Not for your brother. If you’re only saying no because you don’t want Kadar finding out, I won’t leave until I get an answer that you actually mean.” The Syrian smirked, knowing how it agitated Malik. 

Malik frowned at him, having to tilt his head slightly to glower at him. Lips curling in frustration, he grumbled out a fine and stalked away. Altair watched him leave with a triumphant smile, eventually following after to find Desmond and Ezio. He found the two at the usual table, Desmond with a thermos in front of him and Ezio trying to take said thermos away from him. He pulled a chair away from a different table to sit with them. Some other students who were sitting at the table he pulled the chair from called out to him. He looked over his shoulder at them, eyes narrowing into a glare.   
One of them had dark hair and bright hazel eyes, narrowed back at him. 

“You could have asked,” The guy said, voice laced with firm defiance. Altair was kind of surprised the kid didn’t back down as most of his friends obviously did. The Syrian quietly studied the kid before glancing at Ezio and Desmond, who were now focused on him. He turned back to the French exchange student with a slight smile. 

“Yes, I could have. Sorry. You’re friends ditched you. Want to hang with us?” Altair turned his body slightly, openly looking at the guy now. Said guy looked around for his friends before quietly moving his chair to sit with the three friends. Ezio offered the kid a friendly smile to him and leaned on his elbows, forgetting that he had been trying to wrestle the coffee filled thermos away from Desmond. 

“What’s your name?” The Italian asked. The guy gave him a slight smile before rubbing his knees nervously. Altair glanced down at the kid’s hands, noting the awkward way he held himself. 

“Arno Dorian.” Desmond stuck his hand out to Arno. 

“I’m Desmond, this is Ezio, and that’s Altair.” Arno shook each of their hands before Altair turned to his friends with a big grin. Ezio crossed his arms as Desmond took a sip of his probably cold coffee.

“So, guess who got a date?” Altair taunted. 

“No way. Malik said yes?” Ezio asked, crossed arms flying forward to rest back on the table. Altair frowned slightly. 

“Actually, he just said fine. I didn’t really get to give him a time or day, but I think that will probably come out later.” Arno looked between them awkwardly and from what Altair could tell, was about to get up to leave. “Hey, Arno.” The French kid jumped slightly. 

“Oui?” He answered shakily.

“How old are you?” 

“Uh… Sixteen. I’m sixteen.” Altair nodded in acceptance and clapped his hand on the kid’s shoulder. 

“Boys or girls?” He asked, face completely serious.

“What?” Arno cried. For someone who had stood up to Altair, he was easily shaken when it came to talking about himself. 

“Stop being shy. I know for a fact you aren’t really like this. You just stood up to me in front of all your friends. Now, do you prefer boys or girls?” Altair watched as Arno’s face changed slightly from being nervous to feeling a bit more comfortable. Good, shy kids annoyed the hell out of the Senior. 

“I prefer girls. All kinds of girls. Girls are beautiful.” Altair laughed and looked at Ezio.

“I found you a new buddy! Arno, meet Ezio. The group flirt and lady’s man.” Ezio reached over and pounded his fist against Altair’s arm, spewing Italian curses at him that Altair barely understood. Though he recognized the word bastard. Desmond put a hand on Ezio’s wrist to keep him from bruising Altair further. The American of the group looked at Arno, shaking his head. The French student laughed. 

“So, Malik said yeah. What do you plan on doing, Alt?” Desmond asked once the other two settled down. 

“That’s for me to know and Malik to find out. Oh, and don’t call me Alt. I’m not on a keyboard,” He winked, grinning. 

Friday came sooner than Malik excepted. Sooner than he really wanted it to. He had a feeling that he was going to be forced to hang out with Altair as a ‘date’, which he had not told his mother or Kadar about. Of course, Kadar had been extra annoying at home, having this forever look of pure happiness on his face all because Desmond would be coming over or a text he had sent. If Malik didn’t know better, he’d say his baby brother was so hopelessly smitten, it was disgusting. However, Malik did know better. Malik knew that Kadar was just reveling in the attention he was getting and while it was nice, eventually his baby brother would get bored with it and toss it away.   
So, Malik was not looking forward to today. Desmond was coming over again and their mom would be on the night shift. The older Al-Sayf didn’t trust his baby brother to not do anything stupid while he was out on this date. To be honest, he wanted to keep within the vicinity of his home so he could spy. School went by slowly. He loathed when that happened. Altair was relatively pleasant to be around, staying within his own personal space and mostly keeping to himself. Though, he kept grinning at him across the lunch room. When the school day ended, Altair was leaning against his car. He groaned and turned away, only to be pushed toward the Syrian buffoon by his so-called-best friend. Leo will pay for betraying him. 

“Hey. Just wanted to say that I’ll pick you up at seven,” Altair grinned, pushing himself away from Malik’s car and shuffling away. Malik followed him with his eyes, a frown etched on to his scruffy face. He hadn’t bothered to shave today. Leonardo behind him nudged at his shoulder. The Arabian turned to look at him. 

“So you’re really going on a date?” Leonardo asked, way too cheerful for his own good. Malik narrowed his eyes at his friend. “I can help you!” 

“Just get in the car, Leo.” Malik slammed his door as he got in, scowling. Leonardo teased him the whole ride home and before they got out, Malik made sure to tell the Italian genius that this date was a secret and Kadar was not to know about it. At all. They went straight to his room, seeing as Kadar was not home yet. 

Malik took his time getting ready, showering and shaving his cheeks so he had the usual goatee that highlighted his chin. He ended up trimming it a bit so it wasn’t so long. Leonardo waited in his room, picking out outfits for his best friend to wear. Leonardo, despite being a genius in everything, had very bad taste in clothing. 

“What’s all this?” Malik asked, shambled into his room with just a towel on. The blonde smiled at him gleefully. 

“The outfits I picked out!” Malik trailed his gazed over the three hawaiian shirts and number of skinny jeans the other had picked out for him. He gave Leonardo the most grossed out look he could manage, sufficiently showing just how bad the outfits were. 

“I didn’t even know I owned these horrendous things,” Malik grimaced, holding up a blue one with pink flowers. Leonardo just smiled at him innocently while he himself shuffled from one foot to the other. The blonde was trying to make Malik loosen up. That meant the genius assumed that his friend was nervous. That most certainly was not true. 

He glared at his friend. “I am not nervous about this date, Leonardo.” 

The look that his friend gave him almost made him break their glaring contest. Almost. However, angrier, darker eyes won out against the intelligent blue. Leonardo was the first to look away, having broke from the steaming glare he was getting from the Arabian. Malik stormed to his closet to find something that would make him look like he hadn’t tried to look good as hard as he actually did. It wasn’t that he wanted to look good for Beanie Boy, it was just that Malik took pride in his appearance. 

With his outfit firmly hugging his body, he turned to his friend. “How do I look?” He shuffled slightly onto one foot, slightly extending his arms Leonardo could properly look him over. 

“You look good. You’re nervous though.” 

Malik growled at him, eyes narrowing in anger. “I am not nervous!” Leonardo sighed and flopped on to his friend’s bed. 

“If you think I don’t know when you’re nervous, you should probably think about how long we’ve been friends. You only clean up your face for special things, you haven’t stopped glaring at everything, and you just shuffled your feet for like the fifteenth time since you got home. I am not stupid, Malik. You’re nervous.” Malik glared at him, hands gripping the jacket he was going to wear tightly. He hated when Leonardo pointed out his habits. He was not nervous. He refused to think that that idiot was capable of making him nervous. 

Leonardo sat up, blue eyes widening a fraction as he came to some realization that he was about to blurt out and if Malik was honest with himself, he didn’t want to hear it. “You like him!” The flinch was hard enough to make the Arabian to bump into his desk and hiss. 

“I don’t like him!” Malik ground out, rubbing the sore area on his thigh. Leonardo just grinned at him with that annoyingly knowing twist of lips. Malik felt the irresistible urge to punch his friend in the mouth. His blonde friend opened his mouth only to be cut off by the doorbell. The Arabian threw his jacket over the genius’ head and was out the door before Leonardo even had time to say anything. Malik pulled the door open with too much force and slammed it shut behind him, nearly knocking into Altair’s firm chest. Said boy blinked at him in complete surprise, looking him over. Malik was wearing simply gray jeans with a white t-shirt. His hair was slightly wet and spiked forward in a stylish sort of way and his normal amount of facial hair was shaved off and trimmed down. Altair gave Malik a devilishly heated look. Malik glanced at him, only to have to turn back to him again to see if he imagined the completely aroused look Altair was giving him. 

The Arabian made a face at him and pushed past him. “I’m driving.” Altair shrugged and followed after him with an obnoxious smirk. Altair ended up stopping, frowning at Malik, who continued to walk for his own car. 

“You can’t drive though.” 

Malik turned to glare at him so fast, he almost gave himself whiplash. “What?”

“You don’t know what we’re doing. So, you’re gonna have to let me drive.” Malik’s glare sparked out slowly before he was just scowling softly. The angrier of the two trudged to Altair’s car, who followed in silent pursuit. When they were both situated in their designated seats, Altair turned to look at Malik. 

“You know… You really don’t have to come on a date with me if you’re just going to hate it.” Malik turned to look at him before looking down at his crossed arms. He slowly dropped his arms and sat straight up. He didn’t look at Altair, but Malik could feel him watching his every move.   
“It’s not that I don’t want to be here. I’m… a little nervous actually,” Malik admitted, glancing at Altair. Beanie Boy’s stupidly handsome face was mostly just filled with surprise and slight concern. “I’ve never actually been on a date with a guy yet. This is still kind of new to me.”

The other nodded, turning to look out at the road. “Well… This is a first for me too.” He threw his little car into gear and drove down the street at a speed that was way too fast for a residential area. Malik gripped the handle built into the door for dear life as Altair drove a lot farther than Malik had ever been in their city. He looked around to watch the different cars and streets they passed. When they finally slowed down, it was only to stop at a coffee shop that Malik didn’t know was out here. He looked at Altair confused, who just grinned in response. 

“So I saw you reading in English a couple times. If I remembered correctly, you were reading a John Steinbeck book. Well, it just so happens some people do readings of his works here. Also, my favorite artist is actually selling some paintings.” Altair got out of the car and rushed to the other side to open the car door for Malik. The Arabian looked up at him with a genuinely surprised look. 

“You brought me to a book reading?” He asked as he got out of the car. Beanie Boy smiled and nodded, holding out his hand for Malik. He glared at it half-heartedly and didn’t take it. Instead he stalked inside with Altair at his heels. 

Malik picked a table in the back because of the amount of people standing a lot closer to the stage. Altair offered him a nervous smile. “You want a coffee?” He asked. Malik nodded and pointed to something on the menu that look like it would be good. Altair disappeared into the crowds of people to get to the counter. The Arabian took this moment to look around.   
The coffee shop was some sort of old timey cobblestone with a black ceiling. The floor was concrete with odd drawings in sharpie doodled around the bottoms of the tables. There was even some graffiti spraypainted onto the floor.   
Malik thought it looked a little ridiculous, but he supposed everyone else here enjoyed being able to draw on the ground. There were some pretty decent doodles. He noticed that different paintings hung on the walls, each with little strips of paper on the sides indicating the artist and how much the painting was worth. There was one specific painting that caught his attention. Malik stared at it from across the shop before he glanced around to find Altair. He spotted the idiot’s hands first as they were raised above everyone else with two coffee cups. He knew they were Altair’s because his skin tone was unique in the crowded area.   
When Altair managed to make it back to their table without spilling the coffee, Malik got up and went to see who the artist of the painting was and how much it cost. He stared at the swirling colors for a moment as they transformed into an intimidating tree. Next to the tree was the silhouette of a man. The stars spaced out into the form of Aquila and moon melted into the sky behind the tree. He glanced around for the name tag before he spotted it below the canvas. 

“Son of No One”  
Altair Ibn-La’Ahad  
Oil on canvas  
$300

Malik stared at it for a solid minute before he turned to look across the coffee shop to look at Beanie Boy. Said boy was watching him with a nonchalant look on his stupidly handsome face. The Arabian practically stomped his way back to Altair with a scowl on his face. He sat down with a little more force than he originally wanted. 

“You never said you painted,” Malik grouched. Altair just shrugged and looked around. 

“Yeah, but you also never asked. This past week has been all about you, remember?” Malik frowned at Altair. Of course, he remembered. How could he forget how annoying Altair had been for the first few days this week, asking personal questions and other stupid things? It occurred to Malik that he knew absolutely nothing about his date. 

The scowl on his face faded away to leave a slightly guilty expression. “You’re… You’re pretty good.” Altair looked at him, golden eyes sparked with surprise. It faded quickly, but it left behind the sparkle. The taller of the two turned his attention to the stage as someone started speaking.   
Malik turned after openly staring at Altair for a bit, focusing now on what the person was saying. It was an introduction, Malik realized. When the host stepped down, someone stepped on stage, introduced themselves and started reading a chapter of Of Mice & Men. Malik quickly fell into focus, leaning on his hand as he listened intently. It didn’t matter how many times the Arabian had read this story, he loved it.   
Altair glanced at his date. He smiled, knowing this had been a great choice. The chapter and hour went by quickly when everyone decided to move on to the art appreciation part of the meeting. 

“Alright, so we all know how this goes. Most of the art is set up around the shop, however we have a special artist here who would love to talk about his art process.” At this, Altair seemed to gain more of an interest. Malik glanced between his date and the older man who stepped onto the stage. 

“Hello. I’m uh… Andrew Bone.” As he spoke, the workers started setting up some of his pieces on the stage. It seemed to grab the artist’s attention for a second, as he turned around to look at him. “I uh… I’m a photorealistic painter. My main focus is wildlife and uh, landscapes.” Malik frowned at the way the man was speaking. Clearly, he wasn’t sure about being up in front of people. “So… My art process. Right. I live in southern Africa with my wife and three daughters. I’ve painted all kinds of animals in Africa. I don’t usually paint it unless I’ve studied it, been chased by it or done something to save it. I try to get as close as possible to paint these magnificent creatures.” 

Malik started to tune him out as others got up to look at the pieces that were being set up around the shop on stands. The ones on the walls were by local artists, but the ones on the stands were by the man speaking. Altair stood up, grabbing Malik’s hand and pulling him to a painting of a lion. The Arabian squinted at it, tilting his head. 

“There’s no way that this is paint.” He heard Altair chuckle. 

“You’re right. It’s not paint. Giclee actually.” 

“What the hell is giclee?” Malik asked, looking at Altair. 

Altair laughed, “It’s a print ink on a canvas. He inked it and put it on a canvas. Which takes a really long time!” Malik shook his head, eyes wide in amazement as he followed Altair around the shop to look at the other paintings. Eventually, Malik nudged Altair and asked if he was ready to go. Quietly, Altair and Malik left the shop. However, Altair didn’t head in the direction of his car. Instead, he headed across the street to a bicycle shop. The Arabian grumbled after him.   
The taller of the two walked into the shop and spoke with the store owner quietly just as Malik enter the shop. Altair handed over some money, ignoring Malik’s annoyed glare. He turned to his date and grinned. 

“What?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I should probably ask you that. What are we-” Malik stopped as Altair gestured toward a bike near him, getting on one of his own. “What exactly are we doing right now?” 

“Well, we can’t get to the spot I want by car. Plus, bike rides are fun.” Malik glared at his date. That was the worst kind of explanation. Altair led the way out of the shop and further up the street, Malik following with a frown etched permanently on his face. The wind whipped around him, trying to keep up with Altair’s speed. Malik wondered where they were going and why he was letting Altair lead him around the city like he was a puppy. Though, Malik had had a good time at the reading even if he would never admit it.   
They rode for a little longer, turning into a street that allowed no cars. Malik looked around before his eyes landed on Altair who looked completely at ease on the bike. He stared for a minute before Altair disappeared from sight in a second. Malik blinked as he realized that Altair had slowed to a stop and he had ridden right passed him. Turning the bike, he rode slowly back to his date before stopping. Altair pointed at the side of the street that seemed to overlook the city. Malik turned to look before staring at it, eyes widening slightly at how big his city really was. 

“Wow.” 

Altair nodded, looking out at the view as well. He turned to look at the Arabian boy in front of him. It wasn’t the first time he had seen Malik without his signature scowl, but he still felt his own heart pound at the sight of the small smile that would grace the Arabian’s face when he was enjoying himself. His date wasn’t paying attention to him, allowing Altair to continue his staring. It was a weird feeling; the warmth that crawled up his skin and seemed to soak into his very bones. It almost felt like his bones were vibrating rapidly. To the point that his brain wasn’t working when Altair reached up to grab Malik’s jaw and turning it so that handsome face was turned towards him. To the point that a pair of scarred lips were pressed to Malik’s in a soft, pleasant way.   
Altair’s brain only turned back on when he pulled away a little too quickly, but kept his hand on Malik’s cheek. The look said boy was giving him made him feel like he should probably run for it, but Altair wasn’t known for backing down and he wasn’t about to change that. He stood there, waiting for Malik to do something. When he didn’t, he lead the way back to his car and drove his date home. The ride was quiet and suffocating to Altair. It was silent even as he walked Malik up to the door, noticing how Kadar was home and peeping through the window with Malik’s blonde friend. Altair ignored them though, in favor of trying to ask if his quiet date was ok. 

Malik turned around to look at him. “You kissed me.” Altair looked around to avoid making eye contact, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. 

“Yeah, I did.” If Malik was annoyed by Altair’s avoidance, Altair was unable to see it. So he looked the other in the eye. There it was. The annoyance. As clear as the scowl and down turned lips that he had just had his own pressed against not even an hour ago. 

When Malik’s face relaxed slightly (not by much though. When was his face ever fully relaxed?), it was to say something else. “What made you do it?” Altair took a step back to glare at Malik incredulously, mouth falling open in offense. 

“You’re joking, right?” When Malik didn’t answer, Altair scoffed. “Wow. Alright. It’s totally not because I like you and have been trying to get you to go on a date with me for like a week.” Altair turned around to storm back to his car. He clenched his hands into fists when he heard Malik go inside and slammed his car door shut violently. 

 

The car was started and speeding off before Malik could make it to the window Kadar had been peeking out of. He watched as Altair drove away. Kadar looked at him, blue eyes wide with concern. Leonardo was standing beside the younger Al-Sayf, face mirroring the little brother’s.

“What happened?” his brother asked. Malik leaned away from the window, face carefully blank. Leonardo stood beside his friend to look out the window and down the street. It was vaguely quiet.

“I offended him. It was such a nice date and I offended him.” His little brother looked him over before glancing at the stairs. Their mother wasn’t home yet. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kadar asked quietly, stepping forward to offer some sort of comfort to his older brother. Malik shook his head and went up the stairs, locking himself into his room.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Malik is having trouble with Altair and Desmond is an angry ball of cute.

Malik stared across the class at the back of Altair's head. Said boy had moved seats. Malik wasn’t sure why, but he felt it had something to do with what had happened last Friday. Since that kiss, Altair hadn’t spoken to him. In fact, he had avoided him like the plague.

At first, Malik hadn’t minded, but now it felt like Altair really wanted nothing to do with him. He hadn’t meant to upset Beanie Boy, but he had and now it was Wednesday. It had been five days since the date. Malik couldn’t figure out a way to get Altair to talk to him, let alone look at him. He crossed his arms in front of him and rested his head on the desk. Class passed by slowly, making Malik sink deeper and deeper into his seat.

By the time the bell rang, he was heavily leaning on his desk with his face buried in his arms. He sluggishly sat up and packed his things into his bag. He didn’t bother to look up at all, but he knew Altair had walked out already. The guy had been doing that a lot lately; making sure to avoid Malik at all costs. 

Malik stood slowly and ran a hand across his jaw to feel the stubble that had grown in. His goatee stayed longer than the rest of the facial hair that covered his cheeks. He ambled out of the classroom to head to his next class. Malik didn’t make it very far though because he bumped right into Altair’s shoulder. Altair looked down at him, golden gaze icy and unfriendly. Malik looked up at him with a blank look, straightening his shoulders to bring himself to his full height.

They stood there, glaring each other down until the hallway cleared. Altair was the first to break eye contact, looking around before pushing Malik up against the wall. Their lips smashed together angrily, Altair dominating the kiss as he had the element of surprise on his side. Malik’s hands found the Syrian’s shoulders and tried to push, but his thin arms were unable to put any kind of distance between them. Altair grabbed his wrists and pinned them to his sides against the wall, successfully trapping the thinner teen.

Malik gasped softly, only to be jerked awake when Mr. McKenny slammed a hardcover textbook down on his desk. The Arabian teen sat up quickly, nearly falling out of his desk and looked up at his teacher with wide, brown eyes. 

“You’re starting to worry me, Malik. You never sleep in class. This is the third time this week,” the teacher started, brows furrowed in concern. Said teen glanced around the room, finding every student still in their seat looking at him and laughing. His lips immediately pulled into a tight lipped frown and he looked down at his desk. 

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well.” Malik grabbed his stuff and threw it into his bag messily, something he almost never did. He was an immaculate person after all. He stood and excused himself, not bothering to throw a glance to the person his dream had been about.

Malik pressed the ball of his palms to his eyes as he walked down the aisle of the room before he jerked the door open and rushed out. He didn’t hear Mr. McKenny calling after him, but he wouldn’t have stopped if he had. He found himself in the library by the time he realized he wasn’t going to see the principal like he had intended. He sat down in a quiet corner in between two shelves and sighed. Mr. McKenny was right; Malik had fallen asleep in class more this week than he ever had in his whole life. The Arabian teen groaned and covered his face with his hands. He was so stupid. How was he going to make things better with the idiot Beanie Boy?

Malik stayed like that until the bell rang and got up to go to his next class. That class went by quicker since he had stuff to work on instead of a lecture. By the time lunch rolled around, he had made up all the work he had missed while sleeping. The Arabian placed everything where it needed to be in his bag and got up. He walked to where he and Leonardo often sat for lunch, but stopped short when he saw his best friend sitting with Desmond, Ezio, Altair and some sophomore. Malik grit his teeth, working the muscle in his jaw a little too roughly.

How dare he?

Leonardo, the traitor, looked up as if he could feel Malik’s gaze and waved to him. His friend’s motion caused every single head at the table to turn to look at him. The oldest Al-Sayf gripped the strap to his bag tighter as his and Altair’s eyes met. Malik turned swiftly and walked away from the group. Let Leonardo have his fun then. A hand grabbed on to his arm.

Malik almost fell on to his face with how hard he pulled away, spinning around to see who would dare grab him. He expected Leonardo, but it was Desmond who was pulling his hand away from the Arabian teen’s arm. Malik’s face pulled into a scowl, narrowing his eyes threateningly at the slightly larger male. 

“What?” he growled out. Desmond put his hands up in surrender, but they did nothing to calm Malik down or even make him feel better. 

“I was just gonna ask if you were okay.” Desmond put his arms down and watched as Malik glanced from the table behind him back up to his face. 

“Fine,” Malik ground out before walking away again. Desmond rubbed the back of his head. 

Malik didn’t go far, just around the corner of a building. He was not an emotional person, but he felt like he wanted to scream, cry; anything to make him feel better. He took a deep breath and pressed his forehead to the brick wall next to him. Briefly, he thought about how Altair’s lips had felt on his own. The dumb Beanie Boy had soft, full lips. He hadn’t even felt the scar that ran through both of them vertically, but some part of him had known it had been there. Malik wasn’t sure if it even reached his own mouth when Altair had kissed him. He wondered if Altair had fully pressed his lips or just puckered.

The Arabian teen groaned softly in annoyance, shaking his head to keep his thoughts under control. Who cared if he had puckered or not? Malik looked up just as he heard footsteps coming toward him. As if his thoughts could manifest themselves, Altair was trudging toward Malik with his hands in his pockets and beanie pulled low on his forehead. The Syrian stopped just in front of him, but Malik couldn’t bring himself to look at his face. They both stood there awkwardly for a bit. The Arabian teen glanced up at Altair’s face before he took a deep breath. 

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to upset you that night.” Malik moved his gaze and straightened his shoulders, puffing his chest to keep his confidence. “I liked the kiss.” Altair looked at him, though they were close in height, he still had to look down slightly. Malik almost broke under the look, but he kept his face carefully blank. Beanie Boy moved forward faster than Malik anticipated. It surprised the Arabian that he jerked back and accidently bumped his forehead into Altair’s chin. 

“Ow!” Said teen grabbed his chin, pulling away. Malik whined and held his forehead. “What the hell, Malik?” Altair asked, rubbing his clean shaven chin. The other stared at him, annoyed. 

“That was your own fault. You scared me.” Malik’s hand dropped from his forehead and back down to grip the strap to his back. Altair shook his head, no longer touching his chin. 

“You didn’t have to flinch.”

“You didn’t have to come at me like a fucking train either,” Malik retorted. Altair glared at him, reaching for him now at a normal pace.

The Arabian stepped into Altair’s reach and allowed himself to be pulled flush against the idiot. Said idiot leaned down and pressed their lips together. Malik let out a short breath through his nose and pressed back, arms reaching up to wrap around Altair’s neck. Altair was so lucky he was a good kisser or Malik wouldn’t have let him continue for as long as he did. When Altair pulled away, Malik was left with a slight flush on his cheeks. The oldest Al-Sayf opened his eyes, glad for his darker skin because Altair’s blush was showing while his own was hidden by his dark skin. 

“So… second date?” Altair asked, a little breathless. Malik rolled his eyes and looked like he was thinking. 

“Fine. But we’re going to do something exciting this time,” Malik said, pulling away slightly as people came into view. Altair didn’t seem to care, keeping his arm around the darker haired teen. 

“What do you mean by exciting?” 

“A museum is exciting.” 

Altair made a face at him. “How on earth is a museum exciting?” Malik just made the same face back at his idiot. 

“It’s very exciting! History is exciting!” Altair shook his head and mumbled a quiet nerd under his breath. Malik punched his shoulder.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Desmond couldn’t say he was very happy at the moment, given that Kadar was not anywhere in sight, but also because when he asked Kadar’s friends, they said he was with Taylor Vaughn. Earlier that day, Taylor had confronted Altair in the parking lot. Apparently, she had only asked if the date went well, but when Altair told her he was upping his price, she had thrown a fit.

Desmond wasn’t sure why, but Altair had been grumpy all week. When he asked his friend about it, Altair simply said he didn’t want to have to kiss guys without getting paid a good amount for doing it. This made Miles guess that Altair had kissed Malik and made him want a sort of ‘raise’ from their backer.

Now the dumb blonde pink covered prep was clinging onto the younger brother and Desmond was not happy about it. Last friday, while Altair was out on a date with Malik, Desmond was on a date with Kadar. Yet, here the sophomore was, clinging on to the girl who was supposed to used and not noticed. Miles wanted to scream at the injustice. 

It was just after Altair had left to talk to Malik. Desmond was walking to get something from a vending machine to munch on. That was when he found Kadar with Taylor Vaughn carefully sitting on his lap. Kadar’s blue eyes were dark with whatever emotion it was as he stared at Taylor’s carefully positioned cleavage. Desmond trailed his eyes over her body for a moment before deciding that he actually hated her. He could feel his face shift into a terrifying expression.

Kadar must have felt his gaze because he looked away from Taylor’s breasts in time to meet Desmond’s gaze. The older turned away and continued on his way to the vending machine, but he saw. He saw the look of guilt and distress on poor Kadar’s face. The only reason the sophomore felt bad was because Desmond had gotten a kiss in during their date. Kadar had only wanted to try it and now Desmond could see that the boy had absolutely no interest in him at all, only wanted to experiment. Malik had been right about his concerns.

Desmond shook his head, trying to rid himself of the feeling of being used. He slid his dollar into the machine and jabbed a button with his finger a little too roughly. When his bag of chips came tumbling down into the slot, he grabbed it as quickly as he could only to find Kadar walking up to him. Desmond shot the sophomore a glare and walked away from him. This didn’t deter the younger Al-Sayf at all; causing him to chase after his friend a little more vigorously. 

“Desmond!” He called, reaching out to grab said senior’s hand when he was close enough. Desmond pulled his hand away before Kadar could get a hold of him, turning to look at the younger one. The senior couldn’t take the look in those blue eyes; the hurt and the fake concern.

“Don’t. You did exactly what your brother said you would.” Kadar flinched and looked down. 

“I didn’t me-” Desmond cut him off by holding up a hand to stop him from talking. 

“No. You didn’t mean to hurt me. But you didn’t think about the consequences either, did you? Do you know what I thought?” Kadar was silent. “I thought you were serious. You weren’t. I am not your guinea pig.”

“I wasn’t usin-” 

“I don’t want to hear it. You can’t say you weren’t because that is exactly what you did,” Desmond ground out, finally showing some degree of his anger. His face however showed just how hurt he was by who Kadar picked. “Have fun with Taylor.” The senior turned and with slouching shoulders walked away. He didn’t see if Kadar would follow him, but he knew the younger one wouldn’t.

Desmond didn’t return to the table where his friends were sitting. He wanted some time to think. Walking took him to a part of the school he was never near; the library. When he looked up, he didn’t even know there was a library here. Desmond sat at a table by a girl with her blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. She looked up at him briefly before looking back down at her notebook. Desmond didn’t pay her any mind, figuring she was busy and probably didn’t want to be bothered. She surprised him when she pulled a headphone out and offer her hand to him.

“Hi, I’m Lucy.” Desmond looked at her before taking her hand. Her grip was firm and her eyes a shade lighter than Kadar’s. 

“Desmond,” he whispered, leaning toward her so she could hear him. Lucy gave him a smile. 

“You okay?” she asked, pulling the other headphone out. She was pretty and Desmond offered her a slight smile. 

“Yeah. Just… relationship problems.” Lucy nodded in understanding. 

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I just got out of a relationship too.” Desmond laughed softly and looked down at the table. 

“No, I’m not getting out of one. I’m having trouble getting into one,” He looked back up at her. She tilted her head and made a face that made him laugh again. 

“Ew, that’s the worst part.” Desmond agreed. “Well, if you want to talk about it, I’m always here during lunch. I don’t mind making new friends,” she said, writing something down before passing him what she had written down. He looked down at her number before taking it and writing down his own. 

“Thanks. What are you working on?” he asked, trying to get a peek at her notes. Lucy passed over the notebook with a frown. 

“I’m in Trigonometry and I can’t seem to get it.” Desmond looked over the neat handwritten numbers before digging around in his bag to pull out a pen. He graded her work quickly. 

“I can help with that.” Lucy grinned at him as he scooted closer to talk to her about what she needed to do to make the answers right.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kadar tries to fix what he screwed up with Desmond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's done! This is one of my favorite chapters.

Desmond was avoiding Kadar. At least that’s what Malik was understanding of the whole situation. Kadar was moping about the house and at school the whole week; Malik couldn’t figure out what was wrong with his little brother. He wasn’t talking about it. The older Al-Sayf had seen Desmond still hanging around Ezio, Altair and Arno (as Malik had learned eventually) once in a while, but it was only while they were walking to classes. Other than that, Malik hadn’t even really seen the Miles kid around.   
Altair wasn’t being helpful in letting him in on it either. Malik wondered how Beanie Boy even found out. Annoying. Currently, he and said idiot were at a museum staring at an exhibit. 

“You like history?” Altair asked, turning to look at him. Malik nodded, examining the little explanation of the exhibit that was on the wall next to it. 

“I like history and literature.” Altair was staring at him, but Malik ignored him. He never expected the idiot to actually bring him to a museum even though Malik had requested it. Altair didn’t seem to mind too much about being in something similar to school (similar meaning a learning environment). In fact, Altair seemed to know the place inside and out. 

“Do you want to go check out the Mayan and Aztec exhibits?” Altair asked suddenly, turning away from the wax cavemen he had been examining. Malik looked at him, his interest showing through on his face. He nodded and Beanie Boy lead the way toward where he wanted to go. The older Al-Sayf stared at his back as they walked. Altair wasn’t wearing a beanie today, but the hood of his jacket was up. 

“Altair, why is Desmond avoiding my brother?” he asked, walking faster to catch up to his date. Altair had a few inches on Malik which usually meant he had to tilt his head down to full look at the Arabian boy. 

“Well…” Altair glanced away, a frown tugging at his full lips. Malik’s face twisted into a scowl. Altair had been doing this all week, since Desmond started openly avoiding Kadar. Beanie Boy refused to say anything about it, whether they were alone or not. “Do you promise not to get mad? Cause I can’t have you attacking your little brother.” Malik’s stomach dropped and so did his scowl. 

Oh no… Kadar did something. Something to upset Desmond. 

“Desmond and Kadar went on a date the night I took you to the book reading,” Altair started. Malik nodded, eyes boring into Altair’s skin intensely. “Apparently, your brother wanted to, you know, try kissing. With Desmond. So, they did. And then, Wednesday at lunch last week, Desmond sees Kadar with Taylor in his lap and his face like buried in her chest.Desmond got mad and he hasn’t spoken to Kadar since.” Malik wasn’t sure what he felt first. Anger was probably the first thing he felt considering that when Altair turned to look him in the eyes, he seemed to flinch at the way he looked. “Hey. Deep breathes, Malik.”   
Malik breathed in deeply, closing his eyes to calm the fiery rage he felt bubbling up from the pit of his stomach to his throat. He felt Altair’s cold hand settle onto his shoulder, however he never thought it would help him as much as it did. Malik opened his eyes and looked at him with a frown. 

“I told Kadar specifically not to do that. Look what he’s done. Now he’s sulking around the house and school. How do I fix this?” Malik gestured around with his hands, expressing his exasperation. 

“Who said you had to fix it? Kadar is the one who fucked up. Let him clean up his own messes.”

“I’m his big brother. That’s my job.”

“No, your job is to be a role model. He’s not a child. He won’t learn if you don’t let him,” Altair crossed his arms. Briefly, Malik felt like they were an old married couple and he flushed at the thought. He shook his head and sighed. 

“I should talk to him at least,” Malik stopped when he got to the Mayan and Aztec wing. He stared blankly at everything around him, a sour look on his face.  
“No. He needs to talk to Desmond.” Malik nodded, crossing his arms. Altair stared at him for a bit before grabbing his hand. “That’s not fair. Don’t let it ruin our date.” The older Al-Sayf looked up at him with a slight glare, but was only met with a completely innocent smile that didn’t fool Malik for a minute. 

“Fine. What else do you have in mind?” Malik asked, letting Altair hold his hand. Beanie Boy grinned at him before pulling him to the exit of the museum.   
The Arabian supposed that was okay, he was too distracted now to appreciate how great the museum really was. Altair pulled his date along until they got to the sidewalk and started walking to a nearby ice cream shop. “Ice cream? Really?”

“What? I like it!” Malik shook his head, but didn’t complain further. Altair got two ice cream cones and handed one to his grumpy date before starting to lick at his own. The Arabian watched him, barely eating his own. The hooded boy glanced at him, still licking at his own cone.   
Ice cream stuck to the tip of his nose and the sides of his mouth. Malik reached up and wiped the bit of the cold treat off Altair’s nose. 

“You look like a child with ice cream all over your face instead of in your mouth,” the Arabian commented. Altair was watching his date seriously as he continued wiping off the other’s face.   
The hooded teen grabbed Malik’s wrist and leaned down to kiss him. Malik would never admit it out loud, but he rather liked the way Altair’s lips felt on his own. They were soft, yet firm and kind of persistent. The Arabian frowned when Altair pulled away, but he didn’t bother to keep kissing him. He didn’t want the idiot to think he enjoyed the kisses that much.   
Malik ended up biting into the ice cream in his embarrassment. With a sputter, he tried to keep the ice cream from freezing his entire mouth while Altair laughed hard beside him. After spitting out the giant chunk he had bitten off, he glared very pointedly at his hysterical date. The hooded boy wiped his eyes as he finally started to calm down. 

“What made you bite it?” Altair chuckled breathlessly. Malik continued to glare. “Was it my kiss? Do my kisses make you impulsive?” The idiot batted his eyelashes at the Arabian while leaning closer. Malik grabbed the front of the hood and pulled down hard enough that Altair’s head bent towards his chest. 

“Shut up. You’re so annoying,” Malik said, walking away from his giggly date. Altair followed him with a stupid grin on his face. 

“If I’m so annoying, why do you keep coming on dates with me?” Altair asked. Cheeky little shit. Malik swiped at him, more embarrassed than annoyed now. “You like me. You like my kisses. You totally think I’m sexy.” The Arabian felt the need to shove his ice cream into the idiot’s face. 

“I swear, I’m going to throw this ice cream at you if you don’t shut up.”

“You won’t,” Altair challenged. He ducked just in time as the ice cream came flying at him. “Hey!” He turned to look at the splattered mess now on the asphalt. 

“I said I would,” was the only thing Malik offered as some kind of explanation. Altair stared at the wasted treat for a bit before laughing. The grumpy teen next to him stared at him as if he were crazy. 

“You actually threw it at me,” Altair laughed. Malik gave him a puzzled look. 

“I said I would.” 

“I know!” Altair wrapped an arm around Malik’s shoulders and continued walking.  
______________________________________________________________________________

Kadar was sitting with Malik at lunch the next day, pouting openly. It was half way through lunch and Desmond wasn’t anywhere in sight. According to all of his friends, he hadn’t been around much since last week. The younger Al-Sayf figured that was his own fault. Groaning, he put his head down on the uncomfortable metal table. He felt Malik touch his shoulder, but he didn’t move. All he wanted was to talk to Desmond. Was that honestly asking too much?   
He frowned to himself, thinking how very childish Desmond was being at the moment. After he ten minutes, he couldn’t stand just sitting there waiting any longer. Kadar got up and stepped away from the table. 

“I’m going to go looking for Desmond,” He said, a determined look on his face. No one stopped him. Kadar made his way through the school, scanning each building and each group of people. Jocks? No. Art building? No. Senior classrooms? Nope. Just when Kadar was about to give up, he found himself in front of the library. He gave the building a skeptical look before heading in. He wasn’t expecting to find Desmond here. He didn’t even think the older teen knew the school had a library in the back secluded part of the school. He walked in with slumped shoulders and dragging feet.   
He heard Desmond’s quiet laugh (it was a library and it was eerily too quiet) and perked up immediately. Bright blue eyes caught sight of his friend and a smile tugged at his lips. It disappeared almost as quickly as it had formed. He had come to a stop, not anywhere near Desmond, but he didn’t need to be close to see what was in front of him.   
Right next to a pretty blonde girl was his friend. The one he had kissed not two weeks ago. Desmond hadn’t seemed to have noticed him at all. He was too busy silently laughing at whatever she had said or did (Kadar didn’t know what was so funny). The older boy had never laughed that hard when Kadar made a joke.   
The blue eyed teen pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and chewed. He wanted to go up to them, demand to speak to Desmond, to make sure that the blonde knew just who Desmond belonged to. Kadar clenched his fists, heart pounding as he continued to walk up to the table that the older teens were at. As he got closer, the blue eyed boy realized that the blonde’s eyes were the same color as his. His lungs constricted in his chest, making it difficult to breathe. Stopping just before the table, he felt his legs starting to wobble. In his mind, he kept chanting Don’t run.  
The blonde is the one who looked at him first and he honestly thought he was going to bolt before Desmond would even look at him. Kadar stayed in the same spot though, legs shaking, feeling his face heat up and eyes starting to water. When Desmond’s warm brown eyes met his glassy blue ones, Kadar felt his body start to betray him. His lips started to tremble in the attempt to form words, but his mind was drawing blanks. He didn’t notice Desmond moving until the older teen was directly in front of him, hands unbearably hot on his shoulders. 

“I’ll be right back, Lucy.” Desmond turned Kadar around and walked him out of the building. When they were outside, Kadar turned to look up at Desmond helplessly. 

“Who’s that?” was the first thing the blue eyed boy was able to get out, fumbling over his words. His eyes still felt watery and he still felt the need to run to save his dignity, but he didn’t. Desmond let out a sigh, rubbing his forearm awkwardly.

“That’s Lucy. She’s a friend.”

“You haven’t been around… I’ve been trying to find you all week. I was even sitting with your friends! You just… weren’t going to hang out with them were you?” Kadar could feel the tears threatening to fall with how blurry his vision had gotten. Desmond was staring at him. He looked down, trying to blink away the tears. This only forced them to fall from his eyes. 

“What did you want to talk about?” Desmond asked quietly. Kadar was quiet, trying to keep his emotions in check. How did Malik do this kind of thing?  
“I wanted to tell you that I made a mistake,” He eventually bit out. It was more venomous than he intended seeing how Desmond tensed. He reached for the older teen. “I don’t want Taylor. I… I want…” Kadar chewed on his lip, hand gripping Desmond’s wrist. He gulped and looked up at the older boy. “I want you!”   
It was quiet aside from the chatter of the school in the distance. Kadar could practically hear his heart pounding and the sound of his blood rushing to his face. Desmond was just gazing into Kadar’s eyes, as if to see the truth. The sophomore could feel his resolve slipping, but he stayed rooted to where he was. He gulped and started pulling away. 

“I… I realize that you probably don’t care now… I just thought you should know… I mean it-” He didn’t get to finish, Desmond was grabbing him by the neck and pulling him closer. He didn’t really understand what was happening, just that Desmond’s lips were frantically moving against his own and he was too busy enjoying it to really think about what it meant. 

“You’re an idiot,” Desmond mutter as soon as he pulled away. Kadar nodded in agreement, not able to hold back the stupid smile from stretching across his face. The older shook his head, smiling now too, only to lean back down and press their lips together gently.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't very long compared to the others, but I also don't know if it's really well written, so if it's not, I'm sorry.

Malik was sure about many things in his life. Like how he wanted to go to an east coast college or how he knew exactly what to major in to get the career he wanted. He knew that his mother wasn’t happy about his choice of college or the fact that he was going regardless of her anger. He also knew that the chances of telling her his preference for men was fifty-fifty. However, Altair had seemed to take it upon himself for blurting out right that he was Malik’s current boyfriend. 

To his defense, he had no idea Altair was even at his house. Malik had been out with Leonardo looking for books. As he was stepping in the door, he found his mother standing near the stairs. 

“You have a guest.” Malik looked at her curiously before starting to head up, only stopping when his mother had called out to him. He turned to look at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” he asked, his heart pounding loudly in his ears. The room heated slowly, but Malik was sure it was just him. 

“That you have a boyfriend, Malik.” The pounding of his heart stopped. He felt his hands shaking, rattling the bag of books he had. “I am not mad. I don’t know what makes you think I didn’t know. Or that I would react badly.”

“But you always said we weren’t allowed to date…”

“I do not think less of you for finding men attractive. I want you to practice safe sex regardless of who it is with.” Malik stared at her before hurrying up stairs to his room. He wanted so badly to have avoided that whole conversation. He went into his room, hoping it was just a friend and not who he thought it would be. 

Altair sat with legs tucked underneath him on Malik’s bed. He looked up at the sound of the door before starting to get off the bed. He made it all of two steps before Malik tackled him to the bed and started wailing on him with a pillow. Altair let out a yelp as he was assaulted with fabric and softness that he didn’t know could kind of hurt. 

“Hey!” He tried only to get a face full of pillow once more. “Hey!! Malik!” He tried desperately to find his boyfriend’s wrists to get him to stop. Hands curled around the darker boy’s wrists and he was rolled over. “What the hell?!” Altair shouted, pinning Malik with some difficulty. The boy under him struggled wordlessly for a few minutes before he tired himself out and gave up.

“You told my mother,” he panted, “that I am gay.” His boyfriend stared up at him with a hateful glare, but his cheeks were flushed an unusual shade of pink. Altair blinked at him before letting Malik go.

“She didn’t know?” he asked tentatively. 

“NO!” Malik shouted, eyes looking a bit glassy. He swatted at Altair weakly, landing a small smack to his face. 

“Shit, I’m sorry.” He moved away from him and pulled Malik into his lap. The boy was heavier than expected, but it wasn’t at all compared to fighting off his blind fury. Malik allowed himself to be held. “Did she take it badly?”

“She took it surprisingly well. You just beat me to it, you fucking asshole.” 

Altair chuckled, “Why are you crying then?” Malik smashed a hand over Beanie Boy’s eyes. 

“I am not crying!” 

“You totally are. Your face was so red and cute when you walked in. You were about to start balling,” Altair teased, pulling Malik’s hands away from his face. As he was about to protest more, Beanie Boy covered his lips with his own. “Stop talking.” 

The dark boy allowed himself to be kissed for a moment before he pulled away. Altair didn’t seem to like that, following Malik until they were lying back on the bed. The Arabian was turning his face away from his boyfriend just as his little brother came storming into his room, face pink and all smiles. 

“Maliiiiiik! You’ll never- OH MY GOD, MALIK!” Kadar shrieked, suddenly noticing his brother’s awkward position. The blue eyed boy quickly covered his eyes and shouted as the two older boys moved away from each other. Downstairs, their mother’s voice floated up, asking what was going on. Malik got up and closed the door after shouting a quick response that would keep her from worrying. 

“What do you want, Kadar?” He asked, glaring at his younger brother. Kadar peeked through his hands then finding it safe to actually open his eyes, turned to Malik. A happy grin stretched across the younger boy’s face. 

“Me and Desmond are dating now!” 

“What?” both Altair and Malik said, surprised. Altair grinned and fist pumped the air above him.

“Woo! Go Desy!” Altair received a glare from his boyfriend, but shrugged it off. “Oh c’mon! Desmond has been pining after Kadar for like the last three months.” His boyfriend continued to glare daggers at him. Malik turned back to his brother.

“Did you talk to him?” Kadar nodded. The older brother raised a brow at him, prompting him to say more. “Okay, well I found him in the library with some girl right? So I went up to him even though I was really scared and we went outside and I told him the truth, which is that I want him and not Taylor cause Desmond is nice to me because he likes me, not just because he’s trying to get back at you.” 

Altair was lying on his back with his head hanging off the side of the bed. “Bro, you talk way too fast. But I’m glad you made the right choice.” Malik nodded in agreement, crossing his arms. Suddenly, the older brother’s mood changed.

“Mom knows…”

“What? How did she find out?” Kadar asked, eyes wide. 

“This idiot told her.’ Malik gestured to his boyfriend, who didn’t bother hiding his shame for opening his mouth. “She took it well though. She met him and I haven’t been kicked out or anything, so I think it won’t matter if she knows about you and Desmond too.”

Kadar nodded and headed back out of his brother’s room. The older brother watched as his boyfriend moved to sit up. Malik turned, looking around for something that they could do while they waited for dinner. Eventually, he sat down on the bed with his laptop and watched random videos that Altair kept bringing up to show him. It wasn’t long before the doorbell rang and there was more talking downstairs than there had been before. Malik closed his laptop and got off the bed to see who it was. Altair followed after him.

Downstairs, his mother was in the living room, laughing at something the guest had said. When Malik and Altair came into the room, his mother had a photo album in her lap and Desmond was seated next to her, pointing out pictures of baby Kadar. Altair sat on the other side of Mrs. Al-Sayf. Malik stared at the three of them before going to the kitchen to find Kadar pushing some kind of stirfry around in a pan. 

From the kitchen, he heard, “This is their father. He was a good man.” Malik turned and headed back into the living room to sit on the couch across from the three. 

“What happened to him” Altair asked, looking up briefly to look at Malik.  
“Oh, he got really sick when Kadar was three. Malik looks just like him doesn’t he?” All three of them looked up at the teen. He looked back at them with a bored expression.

“Well, not going to lie, their dad looks much nicer than Malik,” Altair snarked. His boyfriend glowered at him and tossed a pillow at him. Desmond snickered at the two of them while Mrs. Al-Sayf just shook her head. 

“This is Malik when he turned five. They both spent the day in the hospital with their dad and we held a small birthday party for him there. He had said ‘Mom, I don’t want to celebrate without dad’ and I don’t think their father had ever been so happy.” Altair and Desmond shared a look before Kadar called from the kitchen that dinner was ready. The older brother got up to set the table while the two guests sat and waited. 

Dinner wasn’t eventful, but Malik enjoyed how relaxing it was to have just a couple more people at the dinner table with his small family.  
______________________________________________________________________________

Altair sighed out the smoke that was trapped inside his lungs. The cigarette burned slowly between his lips. He took another deep breath before he threw it on to the ground and snuffed it out with the bottom of his shoe. He blew out the smoke as he walked to the school grounds. He almost made it to the hallway, but he was dragged to an area where no one would see him. When he turned to who dragged him away, he grinned when he found Malik staring up at him with the same glare he always had. 

“Well, hello there. Is there a reason you dragged me away from getting to class?”

“Don’t lie. You’re later than you normally are,” Malik said, pressing against him slightly. Altair had to admit that he really enjoyed having his boyfriend so close to him. He wrapped an arm around Malik’s hip. 

“Yeah, I felt the craving to smoke.” The darker teen rolled his eyes, scrunching his nose in disgust. 

“No wonder you stink.” The Syrian laughed and pressed his lips to Malik’s stubbly cheek. He seemed to accept it, even turning his face so their lips would meet in the middle. Altair hummed in appreciation and moved his lips slowly against Malik’s. His boyfriend pulled away. 

“I think we should leave,” he murmured. Altair tilted his head at him. 

“And go where exactly?” 

“I don’t know. What do you do for fun?” Malik asked, making Altair grin. 

With an idea in mind, they left the school. Altair brought his boyfriend to his home. It was small compared to Malik’s, but cozy. Altair’s grandma was so very sweet to her grandson’s partner that she gave him something special.

“What’s this?” Malik asked, eyeing the small box she had handed him.

“It was his mother’s. You’re the first person he’s brought to meet me, you know. I think he would love for you to have this.” Inside was a small simple gold ring with twines all along the edges. Malik looked to Altair for permission, who simply nodded. The darker teen slipped the ring on to the only finger it would fit, his index. Altair admired how well gold seemed to look on his boyfriend’s skin. 

For the next two weeks, everything to Malik seemed a bit unreal. He and Altair teased each other constantly, in and out of school. Whenever Desmond had off, Malik would force him and Kadar to hang out with him and Altair. At lunch, the four of them would go off in pairs, either sneaking somewhere to find a place to make out or simply spend time in each other’s presence. 

To Malik, everything seemed perfect.  
______________________________________________________________________________

Altair stood by his car. The bell signalling the end of the school day had just rung. Students poured out of every door and gate the school had leading to the parking lot. He rubbed at his eye, waiting for Malik to walk up to him. Someone tapped him on the shoulder, but when he turned to look, the person he found wasn’t Malik. 

Taylor Vaughn stood there, pink in the face from anger. Altair raised a brow at her. 

“What the fuck is Kadar doing with that douche?” she shrieked, pointing to the sophomore in question. Altair looked over to see Kadar getting into Desmond’s car after giving the older boy a hurried kiss that he probably hoped hadn’t been seen. The Syrian turned back to the girl in front of him and shrugged. She turned a shade darker at his nonchalance. 

“I don’t know.”

“He’s supposed to be with me! I didn’t pay you to take out his dickbag brother just so that little freak could take him out!” Altair frowned at her and was about to open his mouth to say something even he would never say to someone, but a voice stopped him.

“What?” Malik. That was Malik’s voice. Altair turned around to find his boyfriend and Leonardo standing just behind him, both with their mouths open in shock. That was until a look of pure rage crossed Malik’s face. 

“That’s right, Al-Sayf! I paid this fucking idiot to date you, so I could date your brother!” Taylor growled, but Altair didn’t hear her. Malik had though. Oh and the hatred burning behind those chocolate eyes was so very clear. He opened his mouth to say something, anything to make this better. Malik didn’t allow it. He punched Altair so hard in the mouth, the Syrian swore as his scar was split open once again. The ring that had caused the scar to split open once again was thrown at his face for good measure and Malik stormed away, Leonardo following quickly after him. 

“Fuck,” was the only thing Altair had been able to say, covering his mouth with his hands to stop the bleeding. He watched Malik drive away before turning back to Taylor, dropping his bloody hands to his sides. The blood dripped down on to his white jacket and seeped into his mouth. 

“Get out of here.” Taylor blinked up at him before turning tail and practically running back to her friends. Altair got in his car and slammed his hands against the wheel. “Fuck!”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is extremely late because I have had no motivation to finish it. But now I have!

> **Altair**
> 
>   
>  Where are you?
> 
> None of your damn business.
> 
> I’m at your house.

Malik growled at the message and didn’t bother to reply. He glared at the building in front of him, still in his car. He had taken Leonardo home a few minutes ago. The only reason he was here was because he hadn’t wanted to be found. Sitting in his car seemed more relaxing than anything else at the moment. He pulled the lever on the side of his seat and lied back, pushing the seat down with him. With a deep sigh, he thought about everything he had just found out and tried to piece it together with how things felt. 

He lay an arm over his eyes, refusing to let himself feel anything other than the burning hot rage. It hit him in waves, each time burning much more than the one before. It warmed his skin and burnt his eyes, but Malik continued to let the anger wash over him. He knew that this feeling was much stronger than anything he had ever felt before. More than when Kadar was being bullied. More than when he and his mother argued for two hours about college. 

Slowly, he pulled his arm away and took deep breathes before pulling the seat back up. The drive home was not nearly long enough to even put a dent in his anger. Altair, currently sitting against his own car, looked up upon hearing Malik’s car pull up. His shirt was stained with blood from the still bleeding cut that Malik had reopened on his lip. The sight of it and the idiot caused Malik’s vision to go red. He got out of the car with a terrifying amount of calm. Altair pushed off his car just as Malik was approaching him. 

“Malik, I-” said teen glared at the taller boy so hard, he stopped talking.

“How much?” 

“What?” Altair asked, taking a slight step forward. 

“How much was she paying you?” Malik spat the words out so vehemently, Altair was sure that he had actually spit venom out. 

“That doesn’t matter-”

“Bullshit!”

“I didn’t care-” Malik pushed at Altair’s shoulders, cutting him off again. The taller of the two scowled so deeply, he didn’t look like himself anymore. “You’re not fucking listening!” The Syrian grabbed Malik’s wrists and forced him back. The older Al-Sayf pushed in retaliation, trying to get his hands free and knocking his elbow into Altair’s chin. 

Gnashing his teeth to ignore the pain in his jaw, Altair twirled a leg around Malik’s and kept it there before pushing the boy onto his back in the grass, pinning him. The older Al-Sayf snarled, using his hands and fingers to dig anywhere they could. Altair tried desperately to keep his face away from Malik’s vicious attacks. With some struggle, Altair got Malik’s arms pinned to the ground, using his knees to effectively hold Malik in place. 

Malik took deep breaths, glaring up at Altair with such hatred, it was physically painful for the Syrian to look into those eyes that had only been fondly annoyed of him not three hours ago. 

“I didn’t care about the money, okay? I cared about you!” Altair stared down at Malik. “I mean, I did at first, but it changed!”

“Was it minimum to take me out then bonus for sleeping with me?” Malik growled.

“No! I wasn’t going to sleep with you to get money dammit!” Malik opened his mouth to shout insults at him, but they both looked around to see Desmond’s car pull up. Kadar was the first one to get out, but he waited for Desmond to follow him before noticing Malik pinned to the lawn by Altair.

“Uh… What are you two doing?” Desmond asked. Kadar looked them over before his eyes widened.

“Altair, your lip!” Malik looked back up at the idiot on him before throwing him off. He got up and stalked inside the house, slamming the door behind him. Altair watched him go, getting up as soon as the door slammed. He walked up to his friend and Malik’s little brother. 

“He found out about Vaughn paying me.” Kadar looked confused, but Desmond’s face went white as a sheet. “He punched me and then disappeared. And then he wouldn’t even listen, Des! I tried to tell him!”

“Tell him what?” Kadar asked, voice icy. 

“That I really do like him. That it stopped being about the money the moment I kissed him.” Kadar glared up at him. Altair groaned and tossed his head back. “No, not you too.” 

“No, you totally deserve this. That’s so shitty! And you,” the blue eyed Al-Sayf looked to Desmond. “You knew about this?” Desmond simply nodded. Kadar threw his hands up in the air and stormed into the house. The two looked at each other before looking down at the ground. 

“That really blew up in our faces…” Desmond muttered. Altair kicked at the ground, scowling at his shoes. He turned, shaking his head and stalking back to his car. Desmond watched his friend leave, hands stuffed into his pockets. He looked back up at the house before heading to his car too. 

> **Altair**
> 
> Let me know when you’re ready to talk about this.
> 
> Fuck off.
> 
> No, not until we talk about this!

Malik threw his phone across the room, not actually intending to break it, but intending to get rid of the unforgivable hurt he felt coursing through to his very core. The phone made a deafening shattering sound against the wall and Malik groaned, pulling a pillow to cover his face. The door opened slowly, but Malik did not pull the pillow away from his face to see who it was. It could only be Kadar, since their mother was not home yet. 

“Hey…” Kadar’s voice was small around the pillow. He grunted in reply, not wanting to ignore his little brother too much. “What happened?” Malik threw the pillow off of his face. It landed to the left somewhere on his bedroom floor with a small thump. 

“He was being paid to take me out! This entire time, he’s been accepting money from Taylor Vaughn! Not only that, but she was using Altair to date me so she could date you! Which is fucking ridiculous because she only wants that because of her hate of me!” Malik was panting by the time he finished yelling. Kadar looked at his older brother. His older brother, who broke the nose of the bully that pushed Kadar off his bike. His older brother, who helped their mother teach him to walk. His brother, who taught him to talk while their was mom was at work. His brother who was hurting and angry that someone was currently making his life hell just because they could. The thought made him frown. There wasn’t anything he could do to make his big brother’s situation right, but he could help him feel a bit better. 

“I’ll be right back,” Kadar said, practically falling off the bed in his attempt to run out of the room. Malik watched with an angry disinterest before glaring back up at the ceiling. It felt like forever before his little brother re-entered the room and with him was his favorite comfort food and soda (something which Malik does not indulge himself in often). The older teen sat up and looked at his brother. 

“What’s this?” he asked. There was no anger in his voice; the question innocent in its surprise.

“Do you remember when I was little and I was crying because that group of kids wouldn’t let me play with them?” Malik nodded, taking the plate and fork from Kadar. “Do you remember carrying me home even though you were only 8 and making me leftovers of my favorite dinner?” His older brother looked up at him as he slowly lifted some of the pungent spicy food from the plate in his lap. Kadar watched him for a moment before sipping on Malik’s soda. “Do you remember what you told me?”

“I told you that even though I couldn’t make everything better, I’m always going to be here.” Kadar smiled and leaned forward to put his head on Malik’s shoulder. 

“Right now sucks. Everyone in high school is shitty in some way, but we’re young and we get to decide if that is how we’re going to be as adults,” the younger said softly. “I think he’s changed. I don’t think he’s the same as he was. And I think that’s because of you.” The older pulled away to look down at his brother. A frown crossed his face suddenly and a hand reached up to push Kadar’s face away. 

“Don’t be wise. That’s not like you at all,” Malik grumbled. The blue-eyed teen laughed and stole a bite from his brother’s plate.  
______________________________________________________________________________

Malik sat on the front porch of the house with a book in his hands. One leg was stretched out in front of him while the other was curled against his body. Rain drizzled down from the sky, the day gray and humid. Leonardo had stopped by just a little while ago to give him a book and tell him all about how well he and Ezio were getting along. Sometime after that, Kadar brought Desmond over to watch movies in the living room. Since the television was occupied, Malik had grabbed his favorite book and headed outside. 

The weekend was quiet. Malik was spending his Saturday mostly at home. Occasionally, he went out with Leonardo to the bookstore, but that was it. He hadn’t really seen much of Altair in the past month since he’d found out. There were times when the idiot would show up for class and other times he didn’t. Malik couldn’t bring himself to feel anything other than anger. Currently, his face was buried halfway into the novel just where it was starting to grasp at his full attention when he heard someone climbing up the porch stairs. He looked up, thinking he would see his mother. 

Altair stood, hoodie up and wet, with his hands in his pockets and the appearance of someone who really couldn’t be bothered to shave. Around his eyes were dark with lack of sleep. 

“Hey,” he croaked casually. Malik stared at him for a moment, giving him another once over. 

“What happened to you?” he asked. Altair wet his cracked lips. The scar that had been reopened was closed once again, thicker and a bit more angry red. 

“Haven’t been sleeping well.” The Al-Sayf teen stood up and set his book down on the porch swing.

“What do you want?” he asked, tone controlled and calm. The idiot gulped quietly. 

“I want you. I had this fucking bitch pay me to take out this really great guy and I fucked up because I actually feel something with him.” Altair took a step toward him, but Malik crossed his arms and looked away. 

“I don’t think you really understand what you did. I am not a toy, or a thing. I’m a person. And contrary to popular belief, I actually do have feelings. So, go away,” Malik made a small shoo motion with his hand. What surprised him though was that Altair nodded, turned and left just as suddenly as he’d come. The Al-Sayf teen stood there, arms falling to his sides as his brain worked out whether or not to call him back. Instead he shook his head, grabbed his book and went back inside.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheesy romance movie ending. Just warning.

Kadar groaned at the sight of Malik very obviously avoiding the table he was at with Desmond. Altair wasn’t even here! Kadar rested his head on the table. Desmond looked down at him. His boyfriend didn’t say anything, simply because he knew he was walking on thin ice as it was with the younger teen. Kadar supposed he was being a bit mean to his boyfriend, but he couldn’t help it. 

“I think you should convince him to talk to Altair again,” Desmond said quietly. The sophomore looked up at him with a slight glare. 

“Malik has every right to be angry with him,” Kadar warned. The senior looked down at his open algebra book with a frown.

“I didn’t say he shouldn’t be mad at Altair. I said he should talk to him. Yes, this is my fault and you have every reason to be mad, but if it really pissed you off that much, maybe we should break up,” Desmond hissed, lifting his head to look at Kadar seriously. The younger blinked up at him for a second before sitting up.

“What?” Kadar looked at him a bit worried.

“You’re taking out your anger for Altair on me. You’re also mad at me, but the anger you feel for Altair is being directed at me and I am not willing to let you do it. So, you wanna be mad? Be mad alone,” Desmond growled, getting up as he slammed his textbook closed. He grabbed his bag and left. Kadar watched as his boyfriend (ex?) left. He looked around to see if anyone else were around before he got up and went to follow after Desmond.

> **Kadar**
> 
> You should talk to Altair
> 
> Why am I getting this from you?
> 
> Because it’s been almost two months. You’re both graduating and if you wait any longer, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life.
> 
> I’m not taking this from you.

Malik glared down his phone as his little brother continued to text him until he finally gave up. The older Al-Sayf rolled his eyes before refocusing up on the teacher who was just droning on and on about something Malik already knew about. He sighed and looked around the room at the other students. His eyes focused on Altair, who had his head down in his arms snoring rather loudly. The teacher didn’t seem to care, nor notice the snoring. He sighed, annoyed. How did the guy get away with this things?

Altair stood up suddenly, eyes dark from what Malik would assume was lack of sleep. He glanced around the room blankly before heading out the door. The teacher said nothing as the teen left the room while Malik frowned deeply. No one was saying anything to him. He sat there, clenching his fists as class slowly rolled along until he was able to leave.

> **Malik**
> 
> Meet me out by my car.
> 
> Why?
> 
> Just do it.
> 
> Alright alright sheesh

Kadar showed up by Malik’s car when school was over. He looked at his younger brother curiously.

“You look sad,” Malik pointed out quietly.

“Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure Desmond broke up with me.” Malik frowned at him. Kadar kicked at the loose pebbles on the asphalt of the parking lot. 

“What? What happened?” the older brother insisted.

“He said I was taking my anger toward Altair out on him.” Malik frowned harder. He stepped closer to hold him. Kadar simply shrugged away from him.

“Why don’t you talk to him?” Malik tried. 

“I dunno, why don’t you talk to Altair?” Kadar spat, turning and walking toward the buses. His older brother stared after him.

Malik bit his lip and looked back down at his car. He sighed heavily before pulling the door open and sitting back in the seat. Hesitantly, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. A cold wave of panic washed over him as he opened his contacts. He stared at his phone for a bit before shoving it back into his pocket. Leonardo tapped gently on the driver’s side window, making Malik jump. He unlocked the door to his car hurriedly so his friend could slide into the passenger side easily. 

When he started to turn the key to start his car, a pale hand covered his. Malik looked over at Leonardo, brows furrowing in confusion. The blonde artist stared back at him with eyes crinkled in concern. 

“Malik, I have known you for years. I can see that you’re sad.” When he opened his mouth to protest, he was shushed. “I’m not going to tell you to talk to him. I’m only telling you to think about how you felt when you were with him.”

The first word that came to the front of Malik’s mind was annoyed. He blinked at his friend slowly before starting the car and starting on the direction to Leonardo’s house. He kept his friend’s advice in his mind as he dropped him off, as he drove himself home and even as he lay on his bed. 

Malik stared up at the ceiling of his room, brows knitting together as he thought. How he felt? He was angry. Scratching his ear gently, he sat up. Was he so transparent that everyone could see he had been hurt? Sighing, he pulled out his phone and dug through the messages until he found Altair’s thread. 

It took him hours to read through all the messages and he only stopped because it had gotten to the point where he had just stopped answering Altair all together. Malik sighed and dropped his phone heavily on his chest. Why was he doing this? Was it because his feelings were unresolved? 

Malik growled into the darkness of his room, having had not realized the sun had set (or even that he had laid back down). He looked around the room blankly before getting up and heading to the window. The porch light was on and it looked like there was a car in the driveway next to his car. He narrowed his eyes to see if he could make out whose car it was. 

From his window he could see Kadar stepping off the porch, followed closely by Desmond. He watched as they stood by the car, their only light coming from the porch on the far left. They were talking and Malik wanted so badly to hear what about. Kadar rested his hand on one of Desmond’s crossed arms. Malik guessed that his little brother’s blue eyes were large and pleading with just a tiny hint of tearing up. That’s what Kadar always did when he tried to talk himself out of a bad situation (it usually worked), but something told the older Al-Sayf that Kadar wasn’t just trying to talk himself out of something. 

Desmond’s arms fell to his sides almost reluctantly. Malik leaned against the windowsill, gazing back and forth between them. It was Kadar that moved closer, leaning up to kiss the other teen. At first, it seemed Desmond was hesitant, but he leaned down to press their lips together softly. Malik stood up so quickly, he almost fell backwards. Despite knowing the two had kissed, Malik still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that his little brother actually liked Desmond. 

He moved away from the window to head downstairs. Mother was on the couch with her nose in a book and only nodded her acknowledgement of him entering the room. He sat down on the couch opposite of her and studied the coffee table. Eventually, she folded the corner of her page down and closed the book.

“You were up in your room all evening,” She addressed softly. He nodded, eyes still down. “Do you want to talk about it?” He was silent for a moment before sighing. 

“I don’t know what to do,” he started. She folded her hand delicately in her lap and tilted her head to show she was listening. “After what Altair did, I should hate him, right?” A small frowned tugged at her thin lips. 

“Well, son, that depends.” Malik raised his gaze to rest on her face, prompting her to continue. “When I met him, he must have been a good actor if he was truly faking those feelings for you.” He looked back down at the coffee table before standing. 

“I’ll be back. I need to think,” he croaked, voice heavy. He walked out the front door just as Kadar was about to open the door. His little brother stopped to watch him head to his car. 

“Where are you going?” Kadar called after him. 

“On a drive. I’ll be back,” Malik assured as he got into his car. Kadar watched as his older brother started the car and peeled out of the driveway before he drove away down the road. Malik kept his eyes on the road as he drove. His knuckles turning white as clenched the steering wheel. He didn’t drive for long. In fact, it took him longer to find a place to park, but once he was parked, he got out of his car and locked it. He headed up a hill that cars couldn’t go up. It was meant for bikes. He walked with purpose, straight to the spot where Altair had first kissed him.

Malik grabbed the railing tightly, leaning against it. A sigh escaped his trembling lips. He rested his head on his hands and dug through his thoughts. He didn’t know how much time passed. It could have been hours, but he didn’t care. Slowly, he stood up and looked around. With the thoughts in his head, he walked back to where he parked his car. He drove home without really thinking about it. The house was dark when he walked inside. Malik couldn’t recall the drive home at all, couldn’t feel his legs moving him up the stairs to his room.

He changed into something that didn’t smell of sweat and laid back on his bed before flipping through the messages he and Altair had sent to each other. His eyes slowly drooped as he came to a decision that he decided could wait until Monday.  
_____________________________________________________________________________

Kadar was up way too early on Monday. He was practically singing about how happy he was that Desmond didn’t dump him (or this was Malik’s sleep-addled interpretation of his brother’s version of Singin in the Rain). He groaned lazily and shoved a pillow over his face to at least catch the last hour of sleep he had left. That had been his plan until Kadar came bursting into his room with all the energy and enthusiasm of a five year old at Christmas (a holiday that they didn’t celebrate). 

“Wake up! We have to go to school!” came the sing-song voice of an over-annoying blue eyed sophomore. Malik growled into this pillow. “Come on, I know you’re already up!”

“School is in like 3 hours. If you come near me, I will rip your tongue out and watch you choke on your own blood,” the older threatened. Kadar simply laughed, but he kept his distance. Instead, he threw his very heavy backpack on his brother’s stomach. Malik let out a whoosh of air before groaning. He sat up with all the spite in the world, glaring daggers at Kadar. 

“Don’t be like that. We gotta be early.” Malik stared at his little brother with a bland look.

“Why do we have to be there early?” He asked, though he had an idea of the answer. The teen smiled at him with a shit-eating grin before he placed his arms behind his back and leaned forward.

“Because Altair is going to be there early. And he doesn’t stay for very long.” Malik’s mouth opened to say something, but it just hung open in surprise. Kadar slowly made his way out of the room and listened for the tell tale thud as Malik rushed his way out of bed to get ready.

The blue eyed teen sat at the kitchen table, sipping some orange juice while he waited patiently for his brother to come down the stairs. When Malik did jog down the stairs, Kadar stood up and joined him at the front door. 

“You’re going to make this work,” Kadar said as he stuffed his feet into his shoes. Malik nodded, obviously not paying attention. His little brother grabbed his wrist. “Malik, I’m serious. Either you be serious about having dumped him or you let him make it up to you.” The older stared at Kadar for a bit before pressing their foreheads together.

“I got this. Don’t worry.” Kadar watched as Malik walked out the door before he followed after him. 

“I’m not worried!” He protested as he followed. Malik simply waved him off as they got into the car and headed for the school. 

The school was mostly empty when the Al-Sayf brothers got there. There were a few students cars in the parking lot, but most were teachers. Malik spotted Altair’s car almost instantly, along with Desmond’s car. He got out and looked around to see if either boy was in the general vicinity. When he found no one, he looked to Kadar, who had gotten out also and was currently texting. 

“They’re by the vending machines that are closest to the gym,” Kadar muttered, knowing Malik was listening because of the way his brother immediately walked away. The younger followed after him, not wanting to be left behind. Malik walked with purpose, not once faltering in his step or even hesitating, but Kadar chalked this up to Malik being Malik. He had never known his brother to be anything, but out front about everything. 

When the two they were looking for came into view, Kadar tried to catch Desmond’s eye. As soon as Desmond caught sight of the Al-Sayfs, he quickly moved out of the way. Kadar stopped by his boyfriend’s side. By then, Altair had turned to see what caused Desmond to move and was practically shoved into the vending machine by Malik. The younger one smacked his hand to his forehead. 

“We need to talk, Ibn- La’Ahad.” Altair looked down at Malik, surprised, but otherwise nonchalant. He nodded and Malik let him go. Altair took the liberty to move his body first and lead the way to behind the gym. Malik followed, clenching and unclenching his jaw. When he turned to face the angry boy, he was grabbed by the front of his shirt. A punch had been what he has closed his eyes for. However, what Altair felt was lips on his own. He opened his eyes so fast, he made himself dizzy. Malik was the first to pull away and glare up at him. Altair stuttered, not able to find words.

“I missed you, you asshole.” Altair shut his mouth tight, staring down at Malik’s very angry face until he noticed the reddening of the whites of his eyes. He furrowed his brows in confusion. 

“You did?” He asked stupidly. 

“Yes, you idiot.” Altair gulped, taking in Malik’s expression for a bit. He continued to glare up at him. 

“So… you forgive me?” he asked, situating his hands on Malik’s ribs and trying to regain his composure. 

“No,” Malik growled. Altair’s face fell. “But you can make it up to me.” He pressed his body more firmly to the idiot’s, but the stupid grin still spread across Altair’s face like he was given a cookie. 

“Well. I can do that,” Altair assured, leaning down to press his lips to Malik’s once more. Malik let him.


End file.
